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This article was originally published on the website of the Global Sepsis Alliance, before the website of the ESA existed. It has been retroactively published here for the sake of completeness.
On Monday, March 18th, 2019, we hosted the 2nd Annual Meeting of the European Sepsis Alliance in Brussels.
Sepsis survivors, policy makers, representatives of the European Commission, researchers, representatives of European healthcare societies, as well as other important stakeholders all gathered in the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the European Union to discuss how to jointly support the European Sepsis Alliance to accelerate the fight against sepsis in Europe. Besides presentations by Konrad Reinhart, Vida Hamilton, and Necmettin Unal, John McCarthy, sepsis survivor and representative of the UK Sepsis Trust and Shahrzad Kiavash, sepsis survivor and double-amputee triathlete, shared their personal stories of their encounter with sepsis and the achievements of the UK Sepsis Trust in the UK, respectively.
In the second part of the event, the panel discussion ‘Why We Need a Call for Action in Europe – the Patient Perspective’ made the voices of patients heard, a crucial and often underestimated component in the fight against sepsis. Our thanks go to Shahrzad Kiavash, Dennis Kredler, John McCarthy, Idelette Nutma, Aurica Pripa, and Arne Trumann for participating in the panel discussion, as well as to Christiane Hartog for moderating it so very thoughtfully.
The second panel discussion, chaired by MEP José Inácio Faria, explored the need for a comprehensive strategy to tackle infection prevention, sepsis, and antimicrobial resistance.
The 2nd Annual Meeting of the European Sepsis Alliance was rounded off by two working groups, on research on epidemiology and quality of sepsis care in Europe and advocacy and policy.
On behalf of the European Sepsis Alliance and the Global Sepsis Alliance, we call for a comprehensive One Health Pan-European Infection Management Strategy that:
considers the intrinsic links between antimicrobial resistance, infection prevention/control, and sepsis control and care
understands the importance of overcoming silos within systems by initiating dialogue between sepsis advocacy groups, sepsis survivors, experts and professional societies and representatives of the European Commission, Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, the ECDC, and the WHO together with representatives and advocates of the AMR and IPC agendas
promotes awareness of sepsis and the potential of sepsis prevention by increasing vaccination rates and access to clean care, and to clean water, sanitation and hygiene where these are lacking
educates laypeople and healthcare workers about early recognition of sepsis
fosters the improvement of sepsis diagnosis and management by evidence-based sepsis management, improvement methodologies and systems resource and design
supports research and the better application of interoperability to existing national or regional patient-level datasets to better understand the epidemiology and burden of sepsis and AMR
and considers that AMR, IPC, and sepsis control and care are collectively a major health threat which must become an integral and cohesive part of any national, regional, and global healthcare strategy
The European Sepsis Alliance was founded under the patronage of the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, at our event “Sepsis - A Call to EU Action” in March 2018 and is part of the GSA strategy to establish 6 regional sepsis alliances spanning the world, implementing the demands of the WHO Resolution on Sepsis, and saving lives.
This article was originally published on the website of the Global Sepsis Alliance, before the website of the ESA existed. It has been retroactively published here for the sake of completeness.
On Tuesday, March 20th, 2018, the Global Sepsis Alliance, under the patronage of the EU Commissioner for Health & Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, hosted the event 'Sepsis - The Most Preventable Cause of Death and Disability in Europe - A Call to EU Action' in Brussels, Belgium. More than 120 people from different backgrounds and nationalities participated and enjoyed the keynote of Commissioner Andriukaitis and the presentations of Edward Kelley, Director Service Delivery and Safety from the WHO, Konrad Reinhart, Chair of the Global Sepsis Alliance, Ron Daniels, Founder and CEO of the UK Sepsis Trust, and Gary Cohen, President of Global Health from BD, as well as the personal story of Dennis Kredler, who is a sepsis survivor. All presentations can be downloaded below.
In the second part of the event, we founded the European Sepsis Alliance (ESA), which aims to unite European GSA Members and develop and implement a Pan-European sepsis strategy. In four working groups (Quality Improvement of Early Diagnosis and Management, Awareness Raising and Lobbying, Patient and Family Advocacy, and Research), we laid the foundation for this important milestone.
Before closing, the participants, representing major European stakeholders in the fight against sepsis, unanimously adopted The Brussels Sepsis Resolution (download below), which urges the European Commission, Council of Ministers, and the European Parliament:
To endorse the WHO Resolution on Sepsis and to encourage all European countries accordingly to develop national Action Plans and strategies to improve prevention, recognition, management, and rehabilitation of sepsis;
To support a comprehensive Pan-European infection management strategy with sepsis as a key element
To promote awareness on sepsis by organizing an European Sepsis Week around World Sepsis Day (September 13th)
To encourage and support the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) to engage in sepsis education for citizens and healthcare professionals following the shining example of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US and similar initiatives in the UK and elsewhere,
To consider the inherent links between AMR, ICP and sepsis in the new resolution of the EU Parliament to tackle antimicrobial resistance;
To expand existing EU research programs on Infection control and AMR to better understand the human, medical, and economic burden of sepsis for Europe and to support the development of innovations to shorten and improve the diagnosis and management of sepsis and reduce the burden of its sequelae for survivors
To become involved in the European Sepsis Alliance, please contact us.