Tomorrow is World Sepsis Day. This year the spotlight is on maternal and neonatal sepsis.
Background Information:
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs.
As infections frequently complicate serious diseases, sepsis is a final common pathway to death from both communicable and non-communicable diseases around the world.
If sepsis develops during pregnancy, while or after giving birth, or after an abortion, it is called maternal sepsis.
Sepsis in newborn babies is called neonatal sepsis.
Key Messages:
Despite being highly preventable, maternal and neonatal sepsis continues to be a major cause of death and morbidity for pregnant or recently pregnant women and newborn babies.
As a primary or contributing cause, sepsis can be associated with up to 100 000 maternal deaths every year.
Neonatal sepsis kills around 1 million newborn babies every year.
Symptoms and signs of sepsis:
Risk Factors:
- Overcrowding
- Undergoing Caesarean Sections in resource limited settings
- Lack of awareness about symptoms and signs of sepsis among health care personnel
Prevention:
- access to clean water and sanitation;
- access to quality care during pregnancy and birth;
- responsible and timely access to the right medicines;
- proper infection prevention and control in hospitals and clinics.
- proper training of health workers to identify sepsis in time
Useful Links:
Link to WHO news release on World Sepsis Day 2017:
http://who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/maternal_perinatal/world-sepsis-day/en/
Link to World Health Assembly resolution on improving the prevention, diagnosis and management of sepsis:
http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB140/B140_R5-en.pdf?ua=1
Link to World Sepsis Day <dot> org website:
https://www.world-sepsis-day.org/
Link to World Sepsis Day 2017 web page:
https://www.world-sepsis-day.org/wsd2017
Link to World Sepsis Day toolkits:
communitymedicine4all 