17 September 2026 ยท Online via MS Teams
15:00-16:00 SAST | Online via MS Teams
Register: https://bit.ly/NeoNET3
Blood culture remains the gold standard for diagnosing neonatal sepsis, yet in many African neonatal units it delivers answers too slowly, too rarely, or not at all - small sample volumes, prior antibiotic exposure and constrained laboratory capacity all narrow what the bench can tell the bedside. Clinicians are left treating empirically, often broadly, at a time when antimicrobial resistance is making that gamble more costly. This seminar looks at both ends of that gap and the traffic between them: what newer diagnostic approaches can realistically offer in low-resource settings, how empiric therapy can be sharpened while diagnostics catch up, and what it takes to move a laboratory result into a decision at the cot side.
Seminar Programme Highlights:
Chair – Dr Charlene Rodrigues (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine / UK Health Security Agency, UK)
Challenges and Innovation in Microbiological Diagnostics in Low Income Settings – Ms Tinashe Mwaturura (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK / The Health Research Unit Zimbabwe at Biomedical Research and Training Institute, Zimbabwe)
Optimising empiric therapy for neonatal sepsis – Prof Vindana Chibabhai - The National Institute For Communicable Diseases (NICD) / University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Neonatal sepsis - bench to bedside – Prof Andrew Whitelaw (Stellenbosch University / National Health Laboratory Service, South Africa)
