Researchers at the University of British Columbia are the first in Canada to receive Horizon Europe funding to improve post-hospital community care for sepsis.
Led by Dr Matthew Wiens, the team will receive €5m to help improve community care and reduce sepsis-related childhood deaths in Uganda and Kenya.
The project, led by researchers from UBC, the Institute for Global Health at BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre, and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, is being funded through the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking, which focuses on accelerating clinical development of health innovations.
Called REConeCteD: Risk Enhanced Community Care after Discharge, the project builds on the group’s Smart Discharges programme, which leverages digital health technologies to identify children at the highest risk after hospital discharge and deliver targeted personalised follow-up care.
Why community care is essential for children with sepsis
Community care is crucial for children in the weeks and months following discharge from hospital after suspected or proven sepsis.
Around 11 million people die of sepsis every year, with the vast majority of deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Studies have shown that more than one in 20 children younger than five years of age who are admitted with suspected sepsis die within six months after being released from hospital.
“In East African countries such as Uganda, there have been concerted efforts to build up referral systems to better connect community care to facility-based care, however the reverse isn’t true,” explained Dr Matthew Wiens.
“Once a child is discharged from hospital, there aren’t enough resources or strategies in place to inform home communities of the need for follow-up care.”
Identifying children most at risk
The project will implement digital tools to identify and prioritise children at highest risk, emphasise the importance of practising healthy behaviours at home, provide guidance on seeking community care when needed, and ensure people stay connected to the healthcare system.
One way this has been made easier is through the introduction of the electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS) – a mobile application developed by the Ministries of Health in several African countries to digitise community health services.
By digitally linking e-CHIS with a child’s electronic health record, the project will help ensure that the most at-risk children are reconnected with community health workers for follow-up after discharge.
It can also provide information and education through the platform to community health workers about disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment of childhood diseases.
Building digital platforms across low- and middle-income countries
The Smart Discharges platform was originally conceived in 2011 to address the community care gap following hospital discharge and to find better ways to use limited resources intelligently and precisely to help as many people as possible.
Many lives could be saved if hospitals had better tools to ensure these patients could thrive after going home.
A study that enrolled more than 13,000 children in Uganda found that the Smart Discharges platform significantly reduced post-discharge mortality.
Dr Wiens concluded: “Following the trial, we anticipate that REConneCted will be in a position where national scaling within digitised regions is a real possibility.
“Even in areas with limited digitisation, we are building processes and systems that can support improvements in the facility-to-community transition of care for children.”
Team Health Accessible
Health & Wellness Editorial Team
HealthAccessible editorial team delivers trusted, accessible, and evidence-based health information for everyone.
