Principles - World Patients Alliance

Access to healthcare:
Every patient should have access to healthcare that includes timely, effective, affordable, optimal, and innovative treatments for their condition.

Patient centered healthcare:
Patients and healthcare providers must work in partnership to ensure the patient’s individual specific health needs and desired health outcomes are the focus for all healthcare decisions including physical, emotional, psycho-social, and economic aspects.

Financial hardship:
Patients should have health coverage options that provide them with health care while protecting them from financial hardship.

Empowered patients:
Patients should be supported and empowered to express their needs, concerns, and preferences and provided with the opportunity to have a voice in the decision making of their treatments

Patient safety and quality:
Patients should be provided with treatments that are safe, high quality and appropriately monitored

Patient education and information:
Stakeholders should ensure patients are educated in understandable and accessible ways about their condition and treatment options. They must be provided with information that is simple, relevant and comprehensive.

Partnership and collaboration:
Patients should partner and collaborate with all stakeholders for the provision and access to safe, quality, and affordable healthcare.

Patient engagement:
Patients should be supported and provided the opportunity to be engaged at all levels of decision making concerning their healthcare.

No discrimination:
Patients seeking care must not be discriminated against on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, income, health status, education, geographic location, legal status or other similar factors.