World Patient Safety Day 2024: Global Consultation Highlights WPA’s Commitment to Patient and Diagnostic Safety
World Patient Safety Day 2024 focused on the theme “Improving diagnosis for patient safety,” with the slogan “Get it right, make it safe!”. This global campaign, led by WHO, underscored the critical role accurate and timely diagnoses play in ensuring patient safety.
On 10-12 September, WHO organized a global consultation in Geneva, Switzerland, titled “Improving Diagnostic Safety and Implementing the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030.” Participants discussed strategies to enhance diagnostic processes, reduce diagnostic errors, and reviewed progress in implementing the Global Patient Safety Action Plan.
Hussain Jafri, CEO of the World Patients Alliance (WPA), and Helen Haskell, Chair of WPA’s Patient Safety & Quality Council, represented the WPA at the event. Hussain highlighted WPA’s vital role as the largest global umbrella organization representing over 600 patient groups from 132 countries. He emphasized the Alliance’s focus on patient safety, which spans all disease areas, and noted that despite global efforts, many patients still suffer from avoidable safety incidents.
Hussain outlined WPA’s initiatives, including the establishment of the Patient Safety and Quality Council, chaired by Helen Haskell, to guide WPA’s patient safety work. He proudly shared that WPA has organized the largest World Patient Safety Day campaigns worldwide, with over 1,600 activities in the past three years and 500 more planned for this year. He also mentioned WPA collaborated WPSD 2024 events in 28 countries and WPA’s special webinar on diagnosis.
Other key efforts mentioned included the development of short patient safety videos, including a newly launched video on diagnostic safety. WPA also offers a wide range of patient safety resources on its website and organizes regular webinars on the topic. Additionally, the WPA is set to launch five children’s books on patient safety in collaboration with Elsevier Publications at the upcoming 2nd World Patients Conference in Cape Town this October.
WPA’s future plans include creating a patient safety curriculum for advocates and organizations and working with WHO on a toolkit to empower patients and families to engage more actively with healthcare providers. These initiatives are part of WPA’s broader mission to enhance diagnostic safety and support the implementation of the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030.
The consultation and WPA’s participation reinforced the global commitment to safer healthcare and the essential role of patient advocacy in driving improvements.