3.5 Million
Cases of Neonatal Sepsis (LMICs)
600,000
Deaths (LMICs)
USD 10–400 Billion*
Annual Economic Burden in Sub-Saharan Africa
40%
Infections Resistant to Antibiotics
USD 350–700**
Per Episode
1 in 4***
Cases Successfully Treated with WHO-Recommended Antibiotics (LMICs)
OUR PURPOSE
"We seek to address the pressing issue of neonatal deaths due to bacterial infections in sub-Saharan Africa. With a focused multidisciplinary approach, we aim to ensure consolidated research, foster collaborations, and leverage existing expertise to provide concrete solutions."
Zimbabwean mother and baby at Tygerberg Hospital
7M
Neonatal deaths
each year globally
WHO WE ARE

A network of professionals and families committed to addressing the evidence gap for how we can best identify, treat and prevent neonatal sepsis in the smallest, most vulnerable babies in sub-Saharan Africa. Where you are born should not stop you receiving effective care.

Our work aims to find the best ways to safely reduce unnecessary antibiotic use in babies, prioritising resources for those babies most in need, and the best ways to prevent the spread of infection between babies, even with scarce resources.

THE CHALLENGE

Why This Work Cannot Wait

Newborn Mortality

Africa continues to lose over one million newborns annually, a figure that has not declined in three decades. Driven primarily by prematurity, infection and asphyxia, 750,000 of these deaths occur in the postnatal phase, where preterm infants remain at especially high risk for fatal complications.

Failing Treatments

Sepsis remains a critical, underrecognised cause of newborn mortality. Treatment is increasingly complicated by growing resistance to primary antibiotics (ampicillin and gentamicin), leaving clinicians with severely limited options to save vulnerable infants.

Data Gaps

Due to limited laboratory access and healthcare infrastructure challenges, neonatal sepsis remains widely unmonitored at a population level across Africa. Without urgent data expansion, this gap will only widen as the continent reaches 4 in 10 global births by 2054.

WHAT WE DO

Three Pillars of Newborn Care

Newborn with neonatal sepsis

Epidemiology

We are standardising data collection and surveillance across the continent to consolidate fragmented information and map the true burden of neonatal pathogens.

Research laboratory

Research

We are building a federated data platform that enables researchers across Africa to collaborate and answer critical questions about neonatal sepsis.

Clinical team

Capacity Building

Our network fosters a multidisciplinary community of healthcare providers, sharing the training and clinical tools that empower teams to lead the fight against neonatal sepsis.

Support the Next Generation of Neonatal Care

Your support helps us deploy in more hospitals, train more healthcare workers, and generate the research evidence that saves lives across Africa and beyond.

CONTACT US LEARN MORE

* Ranjeva et al. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5859806
** Aerts C, Leahy S, Mucasse H, Lala S, Bramugy J, Tann CJ, Madhi SA, Bardají A, Bassat Q, Dangor Z, Lawn JE, Jit M, Procter SR. Quantifying the Acute Care Costs of Neonatal Bacterial Sepsis and Meningitis in Mozambique and South Africa. Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Jan 20;74(Suppl_1):S64-S69. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab815. PMID: 34725702; PMCID: PMC8776306.
*** Thomson K, et al. Appropriateness of empirical antibiotic therapy and mortality in neonatal sepsis across LMIC hospitals. 2026. Oral presentation. ESCMID Global 2026, 17–21 April 2026.