Recognizing the huge burden of patient harm in health care, the 72nd World Health Assembly, in May 2019, adopted a resolution (WHA72.6) on “Global action on patient safety”, which endorsed the establishment of World Patient Safety Day, to be observed every year on 17 September; and recognized “patient safety as a global health priority”. The resolution urges Member States to recognize patient safety as a key priority in health sector policies and programmes, and requests the Director-General of WHO to emphasize patient safety as a key strategic priority in WHO’s work, especially within the universal health coverage (UHC) agenda.
The resolution also requests WHO’s Director-General “to formulate a global patient safety action plan in consultation with Member States, regional economic integration organizations and all relevant stakeholders, including in the private sector”. This plan will be based on the guiding principles of equity, sustainability and accountability. The proposed action plan will seek inspiration and coherence with existing global action plans developed by WHO and other global health and development agencies. Responding to the unprecedented global patient safety movement, the need for very urgent and concerted action in this area, and aligning with the Sustainable Developmental Goals, WHO’s Director-General launched the WHO Flagship Initiative “A Decade of Patient Safety 2020-2030” in February 2020
Patient safety
The global landscape of health care is changing with health systems operating in increasingly complex environments. While new treatments, technologies and care models can have therapeutic potential, they can also pose new threats to safe care. Patient safety is a fundamental principle of health care and is now being recognized as a large and growing global public health challenge. Global efforts to reduce the burden of patient harm have not achieved substantial change over the past 15 years, despite pioneering work in some health care settings.
Patient safety is the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of health care, including the reduction of risk of unnecessary harm associated with health care to an acceptable minimum. An acceptable minimum refers to the collective notions of given current knowledge, resources available and the context in which care is delivered, weighed against the risk of non-treatment or other treatment.
Every point in the process of care-giving contains a certain degree of inherent unsafety.
Clear policies, organizational leadership capacity, data to drive safety improvements, skilled health care professionals and effective involvement of patients and families in the care process, are all needed to ensure sustainable and significant improvements in the safety of health care.
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