A huge shout-out to our friends and colleagues in Croatia – we are excited to announce that our World Sepsis Day Infographics, the Sepsis Fact Sheet, the Pocket Cards for medical professionals, and the WSD Quiz are now available in Croatian. A huge thanks goes to Jelena Slijepčević and her team at the Croatian Society of Nurses in Anesthesiology, Reanimatology, Intensive Care and Transfusion for their help in the translation.

As always, the new materials are free and quick to download in our World Sepsis Day Toolkit Section – please download them and use them wherever you feel like it, on your social media channels, printed at events, and everywhere in between.

We put a lot of thought and time into these new materials – please contact us to give feedback so we can continue to improve them. Lastly, please consider donating to support the ongoing development of our free sepsis awareness resources – it could help save a loved one. Thank you so much.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the devastating global health and societal implications an infection can have when there are no preventative interventions or treatment options available. Many countries and most health systems worldwide still do not take a holistic approach to integrate policies and tools on infection management with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and sepsis, despite them being interconnected.

The GSA warmly welcomes the publication of this White Paper from the Infection Management Coalition (IMC), that intends to support the development of a roadmap, encourages further collaboration, and paves the way for a transformational approach to infection management across all facets of the NHS and broader society, by adopting a whole system approach. This coalition aims to nurture a patient-centered, holistic approach, allowing intelligence to be acquired, ensuring diagnostics are integrated seamlessly into clinical systems, driving the responsible use of antimicrobials, and better support survivors.

Through this holistic approach, the coalition envisages a future where outcomes are vastly improved and the rise of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is slowed.

About the IMC

The IMC was convened in January 2021 to drive change in support of holistic management and pandemic preparedness in response to the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on societies and economies globally. It comprises opinion leaders, policymakers, healthcare professionals and their societies, the wider scientific community, and industry. Its joint working ethos pools expertise to provide the know-how and information needed to support a more cohesive approach to infection management.

Saving civilian life must be a top priority, healthcare workers must be protected, health systems and facilities need to remain functional, safe, and accessible

The European Sepsis Alliance joins the call for peace in Ukraine, echoing calls by so many organizations and individuals around the world. We encourage our members and supporters to do whatever they can to help Ukrainian civilians and the Ukrainian healthcare system. 

War always causes a humanitarian and health emergency affecting civilians. Children, women, and the elderly are the most exposed to the risks linked to the disruption of safe healthcare and access to medicines. Displacement of swathes of the population from their homes (some with injuries or with underlying health conditions), the mass movement of people, crowding, loss of sanitation and loss of access to both preventative medicine and healthcare services increases the risk of infections and resultant sepsis in an environment which might lack the capacity to treat it – people with pre-existing conditions who are most at risk from infections and sepsis will likely not get the treatments they need. Already we hear that supplies of oxygen in Ukraine’s hospitals are critically low.

 A functioning healthcare system is a basic human right that must be protected, along with the safety and security of healthcare workers and facilities.

Many organizations (see the list below) are providing active support to the Ukrainian population. We encourage you and our members to support these organizations in the same manner as you support the European Sepsis Alliance and the Global Sepsis Alliance.

Additionally, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health is inviting foreign healthcare professionals to go and work in local hospitals. More details are available here.

This new crisis comes as the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already put all healthcare systems under pressure, continues. Ukrainian hospitals, doctors, nurses, civilians, and refugees desperately need our help.

List of organizations providing support:

• International Committee of the Red Cross

• Médecins Sans Frontières

• Save the Children

• UNICEF

Today, we are thrilled to officially announce the WSC Spotlight: Novel Therapeutic and Diagnostic Approaches for COVID-19 and Sepsis, taking place live, free of charge, and completely online on April 27, 2022.

Over the course of 8 distinctive and highly relevant sessions, 39 speakers from all regions of the world will share the newest therapeutic and diagnostic approaches for COVID-19 and sepsis, covering all novel aspects of our understanding of bacterial and viral sepsis, from new methods of diagnosis and risk assessment to novel treatment modalities, and beyond.

Like our previous World Sepsis Congresses in 2016, 2018, and 2021 and WSC Spotlights in 2017 and 2020, this free online congress brings together highly ranked representatives of international and national healthcare authorities, non-governmental organizations, policymakers, patients, patient advocacy groups, clinical scientists, researchers, and pioneers in healthcare improvement.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) has released a new video series to raise awareness about sepsis (embedded above).

The ‘Spotlight on Sepsis’ video series was created as part of the National Sepsis Program.

Developed in partnership with The George Institute for Global Health and the Australian Sepsis Network, the series complements the National Sepsis Awareness Campaign toolkit resources.

The videos focus on the theme of the National Sepsis Awareness Campaign: “Could it be sepsis?” and aim to raise awareness and promote greater understanding about this serious condition among clinicians and the general public.

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About Sepsis

Sepsis is the common final pathway of all acute infections. It arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. It may lead to shock, multiple organ failure, and death, especially if not recognized early and treated promptly.

GSA invites you to register for the inaugural Critical Care Infectious Diseases Network (CCIDN) Canada symposium on Life-Threatening Infections and COVID-19 Disease, that will be held on February 24 and 25, 2022. This event has been developed by the members of CCIDN who are physicians and researcher trained in both critical care and infectious diseases and microbiology.

This virtual educational event will be singularly dedicated to the dissemination of information on life-threatening infections requiring ICU care and COVID-19 disease. Join nationally and internationally recognized experts for this two day-long symposium focusing on the hot topics of the day in severe and life-threatening infectious disease threats.

On April 27, 2022, the Global Sepsis Alliance will host the next World Sepsis Congress Spotlight, titled “WSC Spotlight: Novel Therapeutic and Diagnostic Approaches for COVID-19 and Sepsis“. This congress aims to bring knowledge about sepsis to all parts of the world, easily accessible and free of charge.

Over the course of 8 distinctive and highly relevant sessions, 39 speakers from all regions of the world will share the newest therapeutic and diagnostic approaches for COVID-19 and sepsis, covering all novel aspects of our understanding of bacterial and viral sepsis, from new methods of diagnosis and risk assessment to novel treatment modalities, and beyond.

Just as with our previous World Sepsis Congresses in 2016, 2018, and 2021, and WSC Spotlights in 2017 and 2020, this free online congress brings together highly ranked representatives of international and national healthcare authorities, non-governmental organizations, policymakers, patients, patient advocacy groups, clinical scientists, researchers, and pioneers in healthcare improvement.

We will share more details on the program, speakers, and exact times in February – stay tuned.

From the whole Team here at the Global Sepsis Alliance, we’d like to wish you a great start into 2022 – much success, happiness, and health to you and your loved ones in the new year.

To hit the ground running, we have already updated all our toolkits for 2022, from the fact sheet to posters, event material, infographics, and everything in between. If you are unfamiliar with them, take a look here – most are available in multiple languages, and everything is free to download and use.

Additionally, some of our material, like our Pocket Cards or the Life After Sepsis Brochure, are available to order as professionally printed versions via our WSD Online Shop, with international shipping available.

2022 will be another landmark year for sepsis awareness worldwide, and we are working on a number of exciting new projects and initiatives – we’d recommend saving April 27 in your calendar, for example. Last but in no way least, we are incredibly thankful for your continued support, we really couldn’t do it without you.