The year in numbers It was a difficult year for Meningitis Now, but with lots to be proud of too:
100% of callers to our Helpline feel more confident dealing with the issue raised.
Our website was visited on an average 2.2 times every minute. On average, a typical adult would have read or heard about Meningitis Now eight times in the media.
Our ‘Roundtable’ partnership to raise meningitis awareness included organisations such as Pfizer, GSK, NHS England, Public Health England, a Life for a Cure, MRF and Boots. Over £100k was raised through the
2.6 Challenge, including £75k by our Junior Ambassador, Harmonie-Rose.
Cases of meningococcal disease (meningitis and septicaemia) reduced by as much as 80% across the UK.1
Our ‘Don’t assume it’s Covid’ student campaign was broadcast to 40 million listeners on radio.
Staff numbers reduced from 59 to 36 – a drop of 40% – as we managed the financial effects of Covid-19.
Savings of over £1m against planned We provided 62 Young Futures Fund and 35 Rebuilding Futures Fund awards to people and families across the UK.
127 young people have been involved in our Believe & Achieve programme.
expenditure had to be found thanks to the disruptive effect of Covid-19.
We were grateful to receive donations from 92 grant-making bodies.
We distributed 486,911 Signs and Symptoms cards in partnership with Bounty.
A dedicated Covid-19 support page on our website received nearly 70,000 visits – making it the fourth most visited page on our website.
8
At the time of writing, it is difficult to quantify the full extent of meningitis cases during 2020-21. Pre-pandemic, it is estimated that there were 8,000 cases of meningitis (viral and bacterial) in the UK. This number was reduced substantially during the pandemic as a result of social distancing.
1
