Our collaborative team currently comprises Prof Sats Bagwanjee, an anaesthesiologist currently working in the University of Washington in the USA, Dr Mergan Naidoo, a Specialist in Family Medicine and Primary Care, from the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, and Dr Seelan Pillay, a Specialist Emergency Physician, associated with the Division of Emergency Medicine at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. All three academics and clinicians have extensive experience in dealing with patients with severe sepsis within the South African district health system. They have identified the need for training to be pervasive to the primary health care sector to ensure a decline in morbidity and mortality from sepsis.