World Sepsis Day is held on September 13th every year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against sepsis. Sepsis accounts for at least 8 million deaths worldwide annually. Yet, depending on country and education, this disease is known only to 7 – 50% of the people. Likewise, it is poorly known that sepsis can be prevented by vaccination and clean care and that early recognition and treatment reduces mortality by 50%. This lack of knowledge makes sepsis the number one preventable cause of death worldwide.
The African Research Collaboration on Sepsis (ARCS) is a programme funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) directed by LSTM’s Dr. Jamie Rylance and Dr. Shevin Jacob.
ARCS partners with the Global Sepsis Alliance, amongst others, who promote worldwide action to improve the response by patients, doctors and health systems. Recognition of severe illness is a key component of early treatment and survival. ARCS is undertaking research in Africa which will create and refine tools to improve recognition and to test systems for ensuring quality of care in hospitals.
Find more about ARCS and the work they are doing to improve the survival and quality of life of sepsis patients through multidisciplinary applied health research at the individual and health system level in Africa.