Neonatal sepsis remains one of the leading causes of newborn death and long-term neurodevelopmental impairment worldwide, and the burden falls most heavily on resource-limited settings where diagnostic capacity is stretched and antimicrobial resistance is rising fast. Addressing it requires research that is collaborative, adaptive and connected across sites and disciplines — exactly the model that the SNIP-AFRICA and NeoSep-ADAPT research platforms were built to deliver.
To mark World Sepsis Day 2026, Penta – Child Health Research hosts a special Penta Aperitivo webinar bringing together researchers, clinicians, trialists and everyone working in newborn health. The session takes place on Thursday 17 September 2026 at 12:30 UK/WAT · 13:30 CAT/CEST · 14:30 EAT (15:30 Riyadh) and runs for 1 hour 30 minutes. Attendance is free and registration is open to all.
The webinar offers an in-depth look at how two complementary research platforms work together to strengthen neonatal sepsis surveillance, adaptive clinical trials and long-term follow-up studies across diverse settings. SNIP-AFRICA (Severe Neonatal Infection Adaptive Platform Trials in Africa) is supported by the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking and co-funded by the European Union, and coordinates a network of African sites generating the clinical, microbiological and pharmacological evidence needed to treat neonatal sepsis more effectively. NeoSep-ADAPT extends that work with an adaptive platform design that can evaluate multiple antibiotic regimens efficiently in the populations that need them most.
What you will learn
- The vision and structure of the SNIP-AFRICA and NeoSep-ADAPT platforms
- The major research domains feeding the platforms, from clinical and microbiological surveillance through dose-optimisation to long-term follow-up
- How participating sites engage across these domains in practice
- Opportunities for collaboration, implementation and future growth
- Where the platforms are headed next as a connected research ecosystem within the global newborn health community
Programme (all times CEST/CAT)
The session opens with welcome remarks from Francesca Schiavone and Olufunke Bolaji, followed by platform overviews from Mbozu Sipalo (SNIP-AFRICA) and Lauren Wallis (NeoSep-ADAPT and its synergies within SNIP-AFRICA). A rapid-fire block then covers the four SNIP-AFRICA domains: the NeoSep1 complex adaptive drug regimen trial (Julia Bielicki), the clinical and microbiological surveillance domain (Christina Obiero), the dose-optimising PRECISION study (Veshni Pillay-Fuentes Lorente) and the future Long-Term Follow-Up domain, NeoSep LTFU-1 (Getrud Mollel). A panel discussion and audience Q&A with all speakers closes the scientific content before final remarks and next steps.
About Penta Aperitivo
Penta Aperitivo webinars keep clinicians and researchers up to date on developments in paediatric infectious diseases — prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management — alongside emerging research and therapies, and serve as an introduction to the Penta ID Network. Past recordings are published on Penta's YouTube channel, and a recording of this session will be shared after the event for those who cannot attend live.
Whether you are a current SNIP-AFRICA collaborator, a partner organisation, or simply working in newborn health, this webinar is a practical way to see how these platforms fit together — and where you might plug in to help generate the evidence needed to manage neonatal sepsis more contextually and equitably.
