MANY of your readers will have seen the good news that two new lifesaving meningitis vaccination programmes will begin this summer.

These measures will save lives straight away and for years to come, and at Meningitis Now, the founder of the meningitis movement and the only charity dedicated to fighting meningitis in the UK,we’re delighted to see them being rolled out. Our Beat it Now! campaign over the past two years has been pushing for this to happen.

However, this doesn’t mean meningitis is beaten. There are still strains for which there is no vaccine available; there will still be people who are not protected by these vaccine programmes, and there are still people struggling to rebuild their lives following their experience of meningitis.

At Meningitis Now we want to hear about these experiences, so we can improve how we help.

If you are aged 16 or over and have either had meningitis yourself, or a family member or close friend has, we would like to hear from you.

By taking part in our Meningitis and Me survey you will be making a really important contribution to our work, improving our understanding of your needs, wants and aspirations and helping to inform our priorities for support, research, awareness and campaigning.

As a charity it’s vital that we exist and succeed because we make a real difference to people’s lives – telling us how we can better do this will play a big part in shaping our future direction.

Please visit our website at www.MeningitisNow.org for more information or to take part – it will only take a few minutes. Thank you.

Sue Davie,

Chief Executive

Meningitis Now

Fern House

Bath Road

Stroud

Gloucestershire

GL5 3TJ