The 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) passed the landmark “Global Patient Safety Action Plan2021–2030”. The WHO Member States agreed on the proposed concrete actions to eliminate avoidable harm in health care by adopting the plan.
Millions of patients suffer injuries or die due to unsafe health care globally every year, with over 134 million adverse events occurring in low- and middle-income countries alone, contributing to 2.6 million deaths annually. Even in high-income countries, about 1 in 10 patients is harmed while receiving hospital care. It is estimated that almost half of these events can be prevented.
In 2019, a WHA resolution on global action on patient safety recognized patient safety as a key global health priority, requesting WHO to consult with countries and stakeholders to formulate a global patient safety action plan.
Therefore, during therecent 74th WHA, “Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030” was presented for adopted by the WHO. Delegates agreed on concrete action to eliminate avoidable harm in health care by adopting this plan. This adoption of the action plan provides strategic and practical direction to countries to formulate policies and implement interventions at all levels and settings aimed at improving patient safety. The action plan outlines priority actions to be taken by governments, civil society, international organizations, intergovernmental organizations, WHO and, most importantly, by health care facilities across the world. WHO will work in cooperation with Member States in the development of their respective implementation plans, according to their national context.
The WHO Director-General shall present on the progress of the implementation of the plan to the WHA every two years.
The WPA welcomes the plan and urges the world governments to adopt the plan on priority basis. The patients, families and patients’ organizations must be actively involved in the planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation of the action plan at all levels including local, national and international levels.