German Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach Receives 2021 GSA Award
It was not long ago September 26th, when we officially announced the Winners of the 2021 GSA Awards.
BMG/Frank Woelffing
Yesterday the time had come, the Sepsis Stiftung and the Global Sepsis Alliance were at the Federal Ministry of Health to personally present the GSA Award Category I – Governments and Healthcare Authorities to Karl Lauterbach.
As the German Federal Minister of Health, he received the award on behalf of the G7 Health Ministers for his contributions towards raising sepsis awareness and education.
The Award Jury recognized Karl Lauterbach for the following significant actions.
The exemplary funding for the DES campaign over a four-year period – enabling education endeavors of the public, the population at increased risk for sepsis, and healthcare workers on sepsis prevention, early recognition of, and the need to treat sepsis as an emergency
This was also true for acknowledgments and goals that were set in the recent Communiqué of the G7 Ministers of Health, such as:
That delayed diagnosis and management and/or ineffective or unavailable antibiotic treatment leading to sepsis is killing an estimated 11 million people per year globally
The commitment to intensify the efforts to strengthen early detection, diagnosis, and therapy of sepsis and ensure synergy with antimicrobial stewardship and IPC programs, e.g., through national educational campaigns
To boost the implementation of the WHA Resolution “Improving the Prevention, Diagnosis and Clinical Management of Sepsis” (Res. 70.7)
To support LMICs to strengthen prevention through capacity-building where appropriate, and access to diagnosis and treatment for resistant infections
The members of the GSA Award Jury unanimously conferred this award because said commitment by the G7 leadership marks another quantum leap in the fight against sepsis, especially since the fast enactment of the goals of the resolution has the potential to save millions of lives annually worldwide.
