European health leaders, policymakers, clinicians, researchers and patient advocates are meeting at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences today to advance a coordinated European approach to sepsis, a life-threatening condition that remains a major cause of preventable death and disability worldwide.

‘Making Sepsis a European Health Policy Priority: From National Leadership to European Action’ is an Associated Event of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026. It aims to build momentum for sepsis to become a greater health policy priority across Europe and strengthen cooperation on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and patient outcomes.

Sepsis is a life-threatening response to infection that affects an estimated 47 to 50 million people worldwide each year, resulting in at least 11 million deaths. Despite its significant impact on patients, families and health systems, major variations remain across Europe in the recognition, management and outcomes of sepsis.

Building a European response to sepsis

The event brings together patient representatives, clinicians, researchers, health-system leaders and policymakers from across Europe and internationally. Contributions from WHO Europe, the European Commission and the Irish, European and Global Sepsis Alliances will bring national, European and global perspectives to the discussion. The programme will examine the human impact of sepsis, lessons from countries that have implemented national sepsis strategies, and opportunities to strengthen the European policy response.

Dr Mariam Jashi, CEO of the Global Sepsis Alliance, said: “Global recognition of sepsis as a health emergency has never been more important than it is today. The World Health Assembly Resolution on Sepsis, the 2030 Global Agenda for Sepsis, and the support of WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Kluge over recent years give us a clear mandate for action. What is needed now is political leadership to translate this consensus into concrete commitments.

“Ireland has shown what is possible when sepsis becomes a national priority, with a national programme that has saved lives and offers valuable lessons for others to follow. Our call in Dublin is for Europe to build on Ireland’s leadership, make sepsis a European priority, and avert hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths across the region. The European Sepsis Alliance and Global Sepsis Alliance stand ready to support the EU, its Member States, and every government committed to saving lives from sepsis.”

A central ambition of the meeting is to use Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the EU to generate momentum for greater European cooperation on sepsis that can continue through the Lithuanian and Greek Presidencies in 2027.

Professor Steve Kerrigan, Deputy Head of RCSI School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences and co-founder of the Irish Sepsis Alliance, has been closely involved in efforts to advance sepsis as a national and European policy priority.

Professor Kerrigan said: “Sepsis is one of Europe’s biggest preventable killers, yet we still do not have a coordinated European approach to tackling it. Ireland’s EU Presidency gives us an opportunity to change that.

“We want to put sepsis firmly on the European political agenda and build a commitment that extends beyond Ireland’s Presidency, because this is a health equity issue: where someone lives in Europe should not determine their chances of surviving sepsis.”

Discussions throughout the meeting will consider how sepsis policy intersects with wider European health priorities, including antimicrobial resistance, pandemic preparedness, health-system resilience and health inequalities.

Patient and family perspectives will form a central part of the programme, alongside evidence and experience from countries across Europe that have developed national approaches to sepsis. The meeting will conclude with a high-level session focused on moving from national action towards European cooperation, followed by the presentation of policy recommendations.

Professor Evangelos J. Giamarellos-Bourboulis, Chair of the European Sepsis Alliance, said: "The toll of sepsis on European patients and families is similar to the one of cancer. At least 680,000 lives are lost every year across the EU alone, and disparities in quality of care have been documented in the European Sepsis Care Survey, which shows a situation in Europe that no civilised health system should accept. The policy response is still lagging behind, in stark contrast to the scale of the crisis.

“Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union gives us an unprecedented opportunity to break that silence and build the political foundation for a European Sepsis Plan. Together with the incoming Lithuanian and Greek Presidencies, we intend to ensure that the momentum generated in Dublin does not stop at the end of Ireland's term, but carries through the entire Presidency trio and translates into a durable, coordinated European framework that every patient in every Member State can benefit from.”

Sepsis research at RCSI

As the host institution, RCSI is contributing to efforts to improve sepsis outcomes through research spanning the mechanisms underlying the condition, new approaches to diagnosis and treatment, and the translation of scientific discoveries into patient benefit.

Professor Kerrigan's research has investigated how pathogens interact with the body and trigger processes that can lead to sepsis. This work has contributed to the establishment of Inthelia Therapeutics, an RCSI spin-out company developing new approaches to treating sepsis.