On 9 September 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Sepsis Alliance (GSA) will host a co-organized World Sepsis Congress Spotlight: Sepsis, Pandemics, and Antimicrobial Resistance – Global Health Threats of the 21st Century. This free online event aims to review achievements, challenges, and potential solutions to combat the threat of sepsis worldwide.
Recognizing that most deaths from sepsis can be prevented by simple measures of infection prevention, vaccination, clean care, and early recognition, and that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can jeopardize clinical management of sepsis, the World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted a resolution on sepsis in 2017.
Highlighting the vast scale of sepsis as a global health threat, the ‘Global Burden of Disease Report’ estimated that sepsis, which can be caused by most infectious microorganisms, affected a staggering 48.9 million people and claimed 11 million lives worldwide in 2017. Manifestations of sepsis and septic shock are frequently the final pathway for emerging infectious disease threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Ebola outbreaks, contributing to the overall global burden of sepsis.
In addition, the steadily growing threat of AMR contributes considerably to the enormous human, medical, and economic burden of infectious diseases. Outbreaks in hospitals of infections with resistant microorganisms are increasingly common.
Program:
The large and ever-increasing scale of both threats demands global attention, which is the objective of this congress. Over the course of 6 distinctive sessions, the WSC Spotlight will:
- Provide an overview of lessons and challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and recent Ebola outbreaks in the global fight against sepsis and AMR
- Describe the current global epidemiology and burden of sepsis and AMR as well as explore a future research agenda
- Explore innovative, novel, and cost-effective approaches to preventing and combating sepsis and AMR.
The programme brings together highly ranked representatives of international and national healthcare authorities, NGOs, policymakers, clinical scientists, researchers, and pioneers in healthcare improvement with the unified goal of improving AMR and sepsis healthcare around the world.