De3ar HIFA and CHIFA colleagues,
I am forwarding this invitation from WHO, followed by a comment/question from me.
Registration: https://jsi.zoom.us/meeting/register/XJBGL4hKRASgTcbdlbrXyg#/registration
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Date: July 16, 2025
Time: 8:00–9:o0 am EST / 14:00–15:o0 CET /
Language: English
Dear Member,
We are pleased to invite you to an upcoming webinar on the recently published WHO guidelines on meningitis diagnosis, treatment and care.
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240108042
The guidelines cover management of both children and adults, aiming to improve clinical management of meningitis and reduce mortality and morbidity, minimizing long-term complications and disability, and improving quality of life for affected individuals and communities.
This webinar will provide an overview of the new guidelines in the context of the WHO Defeating Meningitis by 2030 Global Roadmap and will highlight the relevance of the new recommendations for clinical management of children with acute meningitis, and how these will change current clinical practice. It will also provide a description of the next steps for implementation and scale-up strategies at country level and discuss how to reach and engage with all relevant stakeholders.
Agenda and Speakers
- Opening remarks and introductions (Dr Wilson Were, Newborn and Child Health and Development Unit, WHO, HQ)
- Overview of the WHO Defeating meningitis by 2030 global road map (Secretariat, WHO, HQ)
- Presentation of the new WHO guidelines on meningitis diagnosis, treatment and care (Francesco Venuti, Brain Health Unit, WHO, HQ)
- Panel discussion with contributions from:
- Professor Pratibha Singhi (President of The International Child Neurology Association, Head Department of Pediatric Neurology, Amrita Hospital Faridabad)
- Dr Angelina Kakooza (Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda)
- Q&A session
Sincerely,
Tamar Chitashvili
Child Health Task Force Secretariat
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The webinar is being simultaneously translated into French.
I have not had a chance to read the guidelines in full, but they appear to be directed primarily to facility-based health professionals. It is equally important that parents, caregivers, community health workers and other first responders are empowered with the information they need to suspect meningitis and take appropriate urgent action. All too often, children arrive too late to be saved. Please can any HIFA or CHIFA members comment on this and perhaps recommend guidance for these first responders?
Join HIFA: www.hifa.org/joinhifa
Join CHIFA (child health and rights) www.chifa.org
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org