People Fixing The World – Fighting the silent killer

Available for over a year

In 2018, Becky Green gave birth to twins, born eight weeks early. Both boys developed sepsis, and only one survived. Eight years on, Becky takes us on a personal journey through the global fight against a condition that, according to the World Health Organization, is implicated in one in five deaths worldwide – more than bowel, prostate and lung cancer combined. Sepsis can begin as a simple infection and escalate within hours, overwhelming the body and causing organ failure. It is a race against time that too often goes unrecognised until it is too late. But around the world, that is starting to change.

Becky speaks to Dr Kissoon of the Global Sepsis Alliance about how our understanding of sepsis, and the scale of its toll, has shifted, especially since the pandemic.

In Malawi and Uganda, she meets the team behind the APT Sepsis programme. By educating healthcare workers on hand hygiene, infection prevention and early detection they have cut maternal deaths and severe infections from sepsis by 32%. In Madrid, Dr Rosa Mendez explains how a hospital-wide “sepsis code” – mirroring fast-track protocols for heart attacks and strokes – has brought sepsis mortality down from 24% to 17%. From data and diagnosis to training and teamwork, Becky traces a growing global movement determined to make survival the rule, not the exception.

(Photo: A patients’ hand that has turned black and swollen as a result of infection from sepsis. Credit: Louise Cullen)

Presenter: Becky Green
Producer: Marc Rigg
An Audio Always production for BBC World Service

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