Meningitis continues to claim hundreds of thousands of lives each year and leaves many with lifelong disabilities. While effective vaccines, timely diagnosis and treatment can prevent many deaths and disabilities, countries continue to face challenges in strengthening surveillance, laboratory systems and coordinated national responses.

To support implementation of the Defeating Meningitis by 2030 roadmap, WHO recently convened regional workshops in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Cairo, Egypt, bringing together policymakers, public health leaders and technical experts to strengthen national meningitis programmes through peer learning and technical collaboration.

The workshops marked an important shift from developing global guidance to supporting country implementation. In Copenhagen, countries explored surveillance and laboratory systems strengthening to improve outbreak detection and generate the evidence needed to inform meningococcal vaccine policy. In Cairo, countries worked together to review and strengthen national meningitis plans, identify implementation priorities and agree on practical approaches to accelerate progress.