February 2018 - Global Maternal & Neonatal Sepsis Initiative

Voices from women

Posted on Wednesday February 28th, 2018 by WHO

The Sepsis Alliance, an advocacy organization based in the United States, working to save lives and reduce suffering from sepsis has recently posted a story that highlights the effects of maternal sepsis on women after a Caesarean section. Read on.

WHO collective work on sepsis

Posted on Thursday February 15th, 2018Thursday February 15th, 2018 by WHO

After the 70th World Health Assembly resolution on improving the prevention, diagnosis, and management of sepsis, different departments within WHO have been working in this pursuit. In mid-January WHO launched a new page on sepsis, and the Department of Reproductive Health and Research now has a special page focusing on maternal sepsis.

You can also access these sub-sites through the Resources page on the GLOSS website.

First Global antimicrobial resistance surveillance system (GLASS) report

Posted on Friday February 9th, 2018Tuesday May 1st, 2018 by WHO

WHO’s Global antimicrobial resistance surveillance system was created in 2015 “to support global surveillance and research in order to strengthen the evidence base on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and help informing decision-making and drive national, regional, and global actions.” On 29 January 2018, they released their first report revealing high levels of resistance to a number of serious bacterial infections. For this report 40 countries, representing low- and high-income countries, provided information about their national surveillance systems and 22 countries also provided data on levels of antibiotic resistance.

Some of the most commonly resistant bacteria were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae, followed by Salmonella spp. And, among those patients with suspected infection the proportion who were resistant to at least one of the most commonly used antibiotics reached as high as 82%. This is extremely worrying in the face of sepsis, and management of infections among women. Read the full report here.