Can you believe the year is almost over again? Feels like we have just been here...anyway, a huge thanks from our entire team for continuing to support the Global Sepsis Alliance, World Sepsis Day, and the global fight against sepsis throughout 2021 – your support means the world to us. Another year in a global pandemic, with Covid looming over everything. Nevertheless, also a successful year, not at least due to the advances in modern medicine and science. Below, we have summarized our 2021 for you, and look ahead to our plans for 2022 – the year in which we can hopefully move Covid a bit further into the back of our head.

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A Look Back on 2021

January / February / March

The year started out with the GSA supporting the John Snow Memorandum, together with many more societies and thought leaders from all over the world. We also announced the World Sepsis Congress 2021 – to take place in April 2021 – and shared Christine’s story, becoming a triple amputee after an infection from a dog bite had led to sepsis. Later in February, we were eager to hear your feedback in the 2021 Fundraising Survey. In March, the Global Sepsis Alliance joined the G20 Health & Development Partnership, an advocacy organization that aims to ensure that G20 countries coordinate their health innovation strategies to tackle the growing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases globally, to promote the delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on SDG 3 “health and well-being for all” – a goal with which we can very much align with.

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April

In April, all eyes focused on the 2021 World Sepsis Congress. Over the course of two days and 15 diverse and highly relevant sessions, over 90 speakers from more than 30 countries gave trenchant talks on all aspects of sepsis, from the impact of policy, the role of artificial intelligence and big data, patient safety, and long-term sequelae through to novel trial design, the latest research, and much more.

The congress was held entirely online and participation was free of charge – the talks are still available on YouTube and as a podcast on Apple Podcasts - just search for ‘World Sepsis Congress’ in your favorite podcast player. We know it’s a lot – maybe you’ll have the time to catch up on a talk or two during the holidays?

The congress was a big success – almost 20,000 people from 181 countries signed up to participate, 71% from low- and middle-income countries. The full report is available here.

Last but not least, we also shared Hailey’s sepsis story and her tough return to ‘normal’ after sepsis, post-sepsis symptoms, and PTSD.

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May / June

The month was kicked off by World Hand Hygiene Day on May 5 – clean healthcare is among the most urgent challenges identified by the United Nations to be addressed by the global community in the next 10 years and is highly relevant in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as fighting against infections, sepsis, and, most prominently in the last year, COVID-19.

On May 11, we honored the institutions and individuals who received a GSA Award in 2020 with a virtual ceremony. Shortly thereafter, we opened the applications and nominations for the 2021 GSA Awards.

In June, we published the aforementioned WSC 2021 Report, sharing detailed statistics and numbers from our congress.

Jointly with ESICM and SCCM, we published a consensus paper in Intensive Care Medicine, emphasizing the importance of recognizing that patients critically ill with COVID-19 have viral sepsis, despite some differences from sepsis caused by other pathogens.

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July / August

After launching our WSD Photo Challenge 2.0 and new countdown material in early July, our friends from the Eastern Mediterranean Sepsis Alliance unveiled their new website and logo later in the month. Gearing up for World Sepsis Day, we stocked up our Online Shop, including new medical masks.

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September

September is, as the name suggests, our busiest month – and the same was true in 2021. We started with the EMSA Webinar 2021 on September 1 (recap here), moved to the 4th Annual Meeting of the European Sepsis Alliance on September 9 (recap here), at which the first ESA European Sepsis Report was published. In between, our very own Abdulelah Alhawsawi and Konrad Reinhart spoke at the Health20 Summit.

On World Sepsis Day, countless hospitals and organizations turned pink for World Sepsis Day – a truly global spectacular, once again. The 2021 WSD Event Poster summarizes the events that took place all around the world. Also on WSD, we launched our new quiz on sepsis – go ahead, test your knowledge here.

Following closely on the heels of WSD on September 13, World Patient Safety Day on September 17 once again put sepsis in the spotlight, as healthcare-acquired infections represent around 20% of sepsis cases.

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October / November / December

In October, we joined forces with our colleagues from the World Health Summit to design a session on ‘Combating Sepsis: Global and National Strategies’ – you can watch it here. Towards the end of the month, our friends and colleagues from the African Sepsis Alliance teamed up with ISF and the Rwandan Emergency Care Association to host ‘Sepsis 2021: Rethinking Sepsis in Resource-Constrained Settings: The Viewpoint from Africa’ – all talks are available here. The event was a milestone in raising awareness and sharing experiences on sepsis in Africa.

In November, we encouraged you to participate in Movember, raising awareness for men’s health, especially focused on mental health, suicide prevention, as well as prostate and testicular cancer. Later in the month, we celebrated World Prematurity Day 2021 and made the 2021 WSD Event Poster available – in fact, you can still order free printed copies via our online shop.

Lastly, our colleagues from the ESA published a study revealing the burden of post-sepsis morbidity to be higher than initially thought – 3 out of 4 sepsis survivors had new medical, cognitive, or psychological diagnoses…

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Looking Ahead to 2022

In 2022, we will put no less energy into heavily advocating for sepsis to be prioritized as the major global health threat that it is, and many of the successes of 2021 lay the foundation for our work in 2022. For this purpose, we are also planning to expand our team, in order to grasp and create as many opportunities as possible, increase our outreach, and advocate for sepsis worldwide.

We are currently hard at work on the ‘WSC Spotlight: Novel Therapeutic and Diagnostic Approaches for COVID-19 and Sepsis’, to be held in the last week of April 2022 – save the date!

You can also expect the 2022 GSA Awards, an (online-only) ceremony for the 2021 GSA Award Winners, and, as every year, we will translate more material into more languages. We are hoping to meet with some of you face to face at our WSD Supporter Meetings, and are also planning a couple of events with our Regional Sepsis Alliances.

There will also be an exciting change at the WSD HQ in early 2022 – but it’s top-secret for now.

And of course and as every year, our efforts will cumulate in World Sepsis Day on September 13 – hopefully with you and your participation. Stay safe and get into 2022 well!

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A recent cohort study published in JAMA Network Open based on data from 116 507 survivors of hospital-treated sepsis in Germany sheds light on the heavy burden of long-term effects of sepsis, the most severe complication of infections.

The study reveals that 3 out of 4 sepsis survivors had new medical, cognitive, or psychological diagnoses. Among those younger than 40, more than half are affected. The most common consequences are neuromusculoskeletal diagnosis, i.e. muscular weakness or paralysis followed by problems of the heart, lungs, and other organs. Cognitive disorders, commonly known as ‘brain fog’, lack of concentration, and memory loss are newly diagnosed in up to 20% of patients.

New diagnoses affect sepsis survivors irrespective of preexisting conditions, sepsis severity, and intensive care unit treatment, meaning that post-sepsis morbidity is also in patients who were previously healthy, have not suffered severe organ failure, and were not treated in the ICU. Direct costs for a three-year follow-up can be estimated at €6.8 billion ($7.7 billion) per year. This figure does not include the following indirect costs, like loss of employment by survivors, the need for nursing care, or the life-changing effects on family caregivers.

“These figures date from before COVID-19 and are already staggering. Post-sepsis morbidity is much more common than previously believed. If we add to this the burden that COVID-19 survivors will suffer, as many of them also underwent sepsis, we must expect a tsunami of long-term health problems for which we are not prepared.”, commented Dr. Christiane Hartog, co-author of the study and chair of the ESA Patients and Family Support Working Group.

A systematic review published last year revealed that 78% of COVID-19 patients in the ICU and 33% of COVID-19 patients in the hospital have sepsis, which is the most common cause of death [1]. “Because of the link between COVID-19 and sepsis”, continues Dr. Hartog, “ this study helps explain the scope of health issues linked to long-COVID and the magnitude of the problem that we are facing. People who survived severe infections such as COVID-19 urgently need continued professional care and support.”

The authors analyzed claims data from one of the largest German insurers, covering approximately one-fourth of hospitalized patients in Germany. Sepsis patients were identified by an internationally used coding system. Among survivors, those with pre-existing diseases or conditions were excluded. Further outcomes from the study show that 32% of survivors became dependent on permanent nursing care and 31% died in the following 12 months.

Aurica Pripa, the co-chair of the ESA Patients and Family Working Group, commented on the study: “Often, sepsis survivors and their families are left with no follow-up rehabilitation. For some, recovery can take many years, creating a huge and largely preventable burden on their families. This must be changed. We call for holistic treatment of post-sepsis sequelae in standardized sepsis management practices.”

A recent position paper by the ESA Patient and Family Support Working Group asks that the follow-up must be carried out routinely, at or after hospital discharge, must be multidisciplinary, as patients can be affected by multiple diagnoses after sepsis, and financially sustained by healthcare systems and insurers. The ESA calls for other organizations to support this call.

[1] Karakike, E., Giamarellos-Bourboulis, E. J., Kyprianou, M., Fleischmann-Struzek, C., Pletz, M. W., Netea, M. G., Reinhart, K., & Kyriazopoulou, E. (2021). Coronavirus Disease 2019 as Cause of Viral Sepsis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Crit Care Med, 49(12), 2042-2057

Update Dec 6, 2021: Thanks for your feedback – all corrections have been implemented, and you can download the updated poster as well as the print version below.

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Download The Poster

The 2021 WSD Event Poster is now available, summarizing hundreds of activities and events that took place for this year’s World Sepsis Day to raise awareness for sepsis. You can download it below in a ‘view version’ to share online (4.6 MB) as well as in a high-resolution version (25.8 MB) to print yourself.

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Order Printed Copies

For the next 19 days, until December 14, 2021, you can order free printed copies of the 2021 WSD Event Poster via our shop - shipped free of charge to your home or office, as a token of appreciation for your support of World Sepsis Day. Please use the discount code ‘2021POSTER’ to get free shipping. Take advantage of the offer by adding anything from our online shop (like t-shirts, hoodies, face masks, lanyards, and more). Free shipping is valid as long as you order at least one poster and use the discount code. Both offers expire on December 14. If you need an item from our shop urgently, please note that orders which include a poster will be shipped in the second half of December, once the posters have been printed. Lastly, please understand that free copies of the poster are limited to 3 copies per institution. Please think about the environment before placing your order. Speaking about the environment, the posters are of course printed on certified sustainable paper.

2021 WSD Event Poster

€9.00

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Report Mistakes / Add Events

Assembling and designing the poster is an enormous task every year – if you find any mistakes, please let us know. We will fix them and re-upload a corrected version. Also, due to the current situation worldwide, a couple of events had to be canceled or postponed. If your event took place later or online or is missing for any other reason, please contact us – it’s not too late to add it.

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Donate to Support World Sepsis Day

This year more than ever, donating to the causes close to your heart remains vital. We’d be honored to put your donation to the global fight against sepsis to good use.

On World Prematurity Day, 17 November, we raise awareness of the challenges and the burden of preterm birth. This day was initiated by EFCNI and European parent organizations in 2008 and joined by the US organization March of Dimes, the African organization LittleBigSouls, and the Australian National Premmie Foundation in 2010, to honor the 15 million babies that are born preterm every year, worldwide. Today, individuals and organizations from across the world join forces with activities and events to draw attention to the topic of preterm birth and to eventually improve the situation of preterm babies and their families.

The symbol for World Prematurity Day is the socksline. The small pair of purple socks – framed by nine full-size baby socks – symbolizes: 1 in 10 babies is born preterm. Worldwide.

This year’s global World Prematurity Day motto is “Zero separation - Act now! Keep parents and babies born too soon together”. This claim is a reaction to how the pandemic has particularly affected families with a hospitalized and/or preterm baby. In order to protect both staff and patients from contracting and spreading the virus, many clinics and hospitals were forced to take strict safety precautions and put rigorous hygiene measures in place.¹ Unfortunately, this has also meant that the contact between parents and their baby was often massively restricted if not fully prohibited. In some cases, the health situation became so precarious that even staff and equipment had to be moved from the neonatal units to the COVID-19 wards, a measure that has greatly affected the care for these neonates.²

Compared to babies born full-term, babies born prematurely often have a weaker immune system and are more likely to receive intensive medical treatment, making them especially susceptible to sepsis. An infection can be transferred during invasive medical procedures such as intravenous lines or breathing support by a mechanical ventilator.

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¹Neonatal care during the COVID-19 pandemic – a global survey of parents’ experiences regarding infant and family-centred developmental care. EClinicalMedicine. 2021;39:101056. Kostenzer J, Hoffmann J, von Rosenstiel-Pulver C, Walsh A, Zimmermann LJI, Mader S. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101056

²Rao SPN, Minckas N, Medvedev MM, et al. Small and sick newborn care during the COVID-19 pandemic: global survey and thematic analysis of healthcare providers’ voices and experiences. BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e004347. doi:10.1136/ bmjgh-2020-004347 (https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/3/e004347)

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The article above was written by Sarah Fuegenschuh, Head of Communications, EFCNI. Thanks, Sarah!

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Every November, Movember is celebrated all around the world, raising awareness for men’s health, especially focused on mental health, suicide prevention, as well as prostate and testicular cancer.

This year, with the COVID Pandemic still raging in many parts of the world and significantly affecting the mental health of millions, the work of the Movember Foundation has never been more important – and they have never needed your support more.

Although sepsis does not primarily affect males – it strikes women and men about equally – we encourage you to join the noble cause of Movember this year, by growing a mo to save a bro, moving 60km, hosting a mo-ment, getting involved on social media, and more.

Sepsis 2021: Rethinking Sepsis in Resource-Constrained Settings: The Viewpoint from Africa is happening virtually and for free this Thursday and Friday, October 28 and 29. If you haven’t registered yet, what are you waiting for?

The Sepsis 2021 Symposium is co-hosted by the International Sepsis Forum, the African Sepsis Alliance, and the Rwandan Emergency Care Association. Over two days, it will address the diagnosis, epidemiology, science, and clinical management of sepsis, taking into account both the situation in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) as well as the current COVID-19 situation.

This conference will be mostly virtual and focus on sepsis care worldwide, but especially care in LMICs.

It will also provide a unique opportunity to hear from and engage with international and African thought leaders from the fields of critical care, infectious diseases, internal medicine, and emergency medicine, who have extensive expertise in the clinical care, science, and investigation of sepsis and the host response, and in the design, implementation, and interpretation of clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of sepsis treatments. The current COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on sepsis will also be discussed.

Update October 26: The session is now available to rewatch on YouTube, embedded above.

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Original article:

The upcoming World Health Summit will devote one session to discussing global and national strategies to combat sepsis. Said session will take place on October 24 at 14:00h CEST directly on Zoom (Zoom link) and will be hosted by our very own Abdulelah Alhawsawi. Besides Flavia Machado and Konrad Reinhart – both members of our Executive Committee – it will feature Janet Diaz from the World Health Organization, Carolin Fleischmann-Struzek from the Jena University Hospital, as well as Jean-Marc Cavaillon from the Institut Pasteur.

This session will provide new insights on the role of the immune system in sepsis and the potential of novel immunomodulatory therapeutic approaches, as well as offering an update on the burden of sepsis and an overview on the effectiveness of quality improvement strategies for sepsis prevention and care at the national and healthcare facility level. It will outline the challenges to fight sepsis in resource-limited settings and the lessons learned from the current pandemic for the fight against infections and sepsis by other pathogens.

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About WHS

World Health Summit is one of the leading international forums for global health. Every October, WHS draws international experts from academia, politics, the private sector, and civil society to Berlin. During the three-day summit, stakeholders and decision-makers from 100 countries and every field in healthcare work together to find solutions to global health challenges and set the agenda for a healthier future.

This year, there will be over 300 speakers from 100 nations across 50 sessions. Digital participation is free and possible without prior registration.

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Disclaimer: The World Health Summit is organized at the Charité University Hospital, Europe's largest university hospital, which also hosts the Global Sepsis Alliance. The GSA was directly involved in planning the session described above. The GSA and its members are not receiving monetary compensation from the WHS.

Update Oct 13: The form is now closed, thanks for your submissions.

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We are extending the deadline to upload your events to be featured on the 2021 WSD Event Poster to October 13 - Wednesday next week. Please submit your events by then using the form below.

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Important Instructions – Read Carefully

1. If you are not seeing the form (above, between the two lines), please enable JavaScript on your browser or use a different device.

2. Please note that you can only upload one picture per event (the poster gets too crowded otherwise) – please choose the best/the most representative one.

3. If you hosted multiple events, please submit them individually.

4. Since the poster will eventually be printed, please make sure to submit a high-quality image. Try to avoid compressed files. Compressing can happen when sending pictures through messengers, such as WhatsApp. In such a case, please get the original file from the person who took the picture, or ask that person to upload the picture directly. Uploads from mobile are possible.

5. Please use only the provided form to submit your events - we can’t use pictures that are emailed to us or sent through social media.

We plan to complete the poster by November, and we will make it available for download, as well as sent out printed copies, which you will be able to order free of charge as soon as the poster is completed.

Please point your colleagues and friends to our website to submit their events, especially if you know that they did an event for World Sepsis Day – thanks so much.

If you adhered to the instructions above and have problems, or for any other questions, please contact us.