Brendan Smith urges committee to hear northeast sepsis advocates
Brendan Smith asked the committee to engage with a northeast sepsis advocacy group, proposing that correspondence be forwarded to the relevant ministers and the Taoiseach and that the group be invited to present. He praised the group's awareness work and cited World Health Organization 2020 estimates on sepsis cases and deaths to emphasise the illness's severity.
Group engagement history
The group has previously presented to the Oireachtas during the last term and has been heard on local radio and featured in print media, according to Brendan Smith.
Committee requests
Brendan Smith suggested forwarding the group's correspondence to the relevant ministers and the Taoiseach and, with the committee's agreement, inviting the northeast sepsis group to make a formal presentation to the committee to raise awareness.
Global statistics cited
He cited World Health Organization estimates from 2020: 49 million cases of sepsis worldwide that year, 20 million of those cases were in children, nearly 50% of them in children, 11 million sepsis-related deaths, and a figure of 20% of all global deaths attributed to sepsis.
Advocacy and proposed forum
He highlighted three young women who have been prominent advocates and said that a committee forum would help amplify their message about creating awareness and developing comprehensive strategies at national, European and global levels to counteract the illness.
Public awareness trend
Brendan Smith observed that sepsis is a more prevalent term today than it would have been 10 or 12 years ago, reflecting greater public discussion of the condition and the work of advocates.
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Thank you, Cahir. Look, this is an excellent group. I know the members of this group, they've actually made a presentation day of your room during the lifetime of the last Oireachtas. I've heard them on local radio stations and also read interviews with them in the print media as well. They've done powerful work in advocating in relation to the need to create a better awareness among all of us in regard to sepsis and the severity of that particular illness. And I would hope that we would have been positioned to forward the correspondence to the relevant ministers and to the Taoiseach as well. And one other thing that I would suggest, Cahir, look, is that we should invite this particular northeast sepsis group in to make a presentation to ourselves. Their whole work is about creating the awareness, ensuring that at national level, at European level, and globally as well, that there are comprehensive strategies in place to counteract this very, very severe illness. And just in the documentation we have, I see that in 2020, the World Health Organization estimated that there were 49 million cases of sepsis worldwide that year. 20 million of those cases were in children, nearly 50% of them in children. And also that year that there were 11 million sepsis-related deaths. 20% of all global deaths were caused by sepsis. So I don't think if we were speaking here 10 or 12 years ago, sepsis would have been as prevalent a word in our day-to-day conversations as it is today. So I would be of the opinion, Cahir, look, with the agreement of yourself and the committee, that we should ask these powerful advocates in relation to the severity of the illness and the need to create that awareness, develop proper strategies. There are three young ladies who have done great work. And I think a platform, a forum, I should say, like this would be beneficial in getting that word out from those people who, through their own personal experience...
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