Stop Sepsis
Empowering healthcare providers to suspect, treat and prevent sepsis in women and newborns.
The Statement recognizes the need to foster new thinking and catalyse greater action to address maternal infections and sepsis. It describes the programme of work of the WHO maternal sepsis initiative and the WHO maternal sepsis definition.
The goal of this guideline and other related recommendations is to consolidate guidance for effective interventions that are needed to reduce the global burden of maternal infections and their complications around the time of childbirth with the aim of improving outcomes for both mothers and newborns. This forms part of WHO’s efforts to improve the quality of care for leading causes of maternal death, especially those clustered around the time of childbirth, in the post-MDG era.
Executive summary available in English, Chinese, French, Portuguese and Spanish
2025 NEW
WHO recommendation on antibiotic prophylaxis during labour for vaginal birth
2024 NEW
2021 UPDATES
WHO recommendation on routine antibiotic prophylaxis for women undergoing operative vaginal birth
WHO recommendation on prophylactic antibiotics for women undergoing caesarean section
The toolkit is divided into 6 sessions. The first session covers the essential knowledge of standard precautions required for good infection prevention and control. The other five sessions develop this knowledge and apply it clinically to common situations in antenatal care, labour, childbirth and neonatal care. Currently the first three sessions are now available.
The goal of this training package is to integrate IPC standards and practices within the key steps of the care pathway for women and newborns, from the pre-natal to the post-natal period.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on sepsis and its implications, opening the free online congress ‘WSC Spotlight: Maternal and Neonatal Sepsis’ by WHO and GSA on September 12th, on the eve of the sixth World Sepsis Day on September 13th.
How to prevent sepsis – the role you can play in health care and communities
Every year sepsis affects 30 million people worldwide, anyone with an infection can develop sepsis but some are more at risk than others. This short, animated WHO video provides key information on the risks associated with sepsis and how infections and their evolution to sepsis can be prevented in health care and the community, so that together we can help save millions of lives.
In 2018, WHO’s “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” campaign focuses on sepsis in health care facilities.
We are testing effective strategies to prevent and manage maternal sepsis in Malawi and Uganda, via an integrated programme including hand hygiene, optimized use of antibiotics and improved surgical practices, and improved maternal sepsis management. This programme responds to the 70th World Health Assembly resolution Improving the prevention, diagnosis and clinical management of sepsis and the Global Maternal and Neonatal Sepsis Initiative objectives.