The World Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (WSPID) was founded in 1994 as an initiative of some members of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (SLIPE) and of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID). 

Dr . Napoleon Gonzalez Saldana from Mexico was the founding president of the Society, and the first honorary life member of WSPID. He organized the 1st World Congress of WSPID in Acapulco, Mexico, in December 1996.

Subsequent World Congresses were organized in Manila, Philippines (1999), Santiago, Chile (2002), Warsaw, Poland (2005), Bangkok, Thailand (2007), Buenos Aires, Argentina (2009), Melbourne, Australia (2011), Cape Town, South Africa (2013), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2015) and Shenzhen, China (2017).