Maternal sepsis affects an estimated 6 million women per year and is the third most common cause of maternal mortality globally.​ The Azithromycin Prevention in Labor Use Study (A-PLUS), a groundbreaking multinational clinical trial, demonstrated that one dose of azithromycin, a low-cost, generic, oral antibiotic, given during labor to women planning to deliver vaginally could reduce the occurrence of life-threatening sepsis.

Pathway to Impact

• Initial study results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) Annual Pregnancy Meeting 2023, showed that azithromycin use cut the risk of maternal sepsis by 35% and could prevent up to 2 million such cases per year.
• Secondary analyses of the data, presented at SMFM 2024, supported changing the standard of care for pregnant women in lower-resource settings.
• The Clinical Research Forum awarded top honors to the A-PLUS research team:
  • Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award
  • Distinguished Clinical Research Achievement Award