Praise for Meningococcal Disease Awareness Programme

Health Minister Bill English today praised Auckland Healthcare's meningococcal disease awareness programme, and said it was an excellent example of a local solution to a serious local problem.

"Auckland Healthcare identified three geographical areas where there was a serious problem with meningococcal disease - Glen Innes, Mangere and Otara. They trained 49 people, largely under the Community Taskforce scheme, who then went on a door-to-door campaign educating the community about this disease.

"The programme's lay educators visited 7340 homes and distributed 10,000 fact sheets, 8000 action plans and 3000 green cards, for families who can't speak English to take to their doctor if they suspected meningococcal disease.

"Auckland Healthcare has used its own initiative, coupled with the resources from the Ministry of Health and Health Funding Authority, to target those who need to know about meningococcal disease the most.

"The key to keeping meningococcal disease at bay is awareness, and Auckland Health used its community to help raise that awareness. Early detection is what will save lives.

"New Zealand has a high rate of meningococcal disease, with 274 cases and 19 deaths reported this year. In order to control this disease we need to find out more about the risk factors and to this end the Ministry and the Health Research Council are jointly funding a Meningococcal Case Control Study.

"The data collection phase of the study will be completed by April next year and full results available by November 1999. The three-year study involves interviewing families of cases along with control families to collect detailed information about possible risk factors. These include socio-economic status, housing conditions, household size and composition, over-crowding, extent of mixing with other children, exposure to tobacco smoke, infant care practices such as breastfeeding, and recent illnesses such as cold or flu.

"The study will confirm and quantify known risk factors and so provide a solid basis for our public health strategies. This will help underpin public health responses to meningococcal disease epidemics.

"One of the problems with this disease is that there is no vaccine for the predominant strain we have in New Zealand, meningococcal serogroup B. The Ministry is working with the World Health Organisation to identify all possible vaccine options.

"This means that awareness in the community is one of the main weapons we have against the disease. The Auckland Healthcare project focused on young children and specifically Maori and Pacific Island children under two, who are most at risk from the disease. This is an excellent example of taking health care to the people, instead of expecting patients to find their way around the system," said Mr English.