Message of WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti                        

The security of sufferers is a prime precedence for us within the WHO African Area and is inherent in all our efforts to attain Common Well being Protection (UHC) and Sustainable Improvement Objectives (SDGs).

World Affected person Security Day permits us to spotlight this necessary side of our work, and it’s celebrated yearly on 17 September to boost consciousness of the significance of people-centered care and stopping affected person hurt.  Successive annual celebrations since 2019 spotlight particular themes that signify a precedence space in affected person security.

This yr’s theme, “Participating sufferers for affected person security!” spotlights the requirement for the general public to advertise healthcare security by way of engagement classes to: First, talk about their position within the co-development of insurance policies, plans, methods, programmes, and pointers to make well being care safer.

Second, provide alternatives to sufferers and households uncovered to unsafe care to share their experiences and inform their tales to enhance understanding of the character of hurt and foster the event of simpler options.

And third, devise mechanisms to construct the capability of affected person advocates and champions in affected person security.

The marketing campaign’s slogan, “Elevate the voice of sufferers!” emphasizes the necessity to contain sufferers of their care. Proof reveals that affected person engagement reduces well being care errors and prices, and improves well being outcomes, healthcare supply, high quality of care, and life.

Greater than 50% of the hurt that sufferers expertise is preventable if concerted efforts and requisite funding are made. At WHO and with our companions, we set up mechanisms to steer and coordinate efforts, construct required capability and networks for all elements of affected person security, together with affected person engagement, and supply steerage paperwork and instruments for empowering sufferers and households.

Within the WHO Africa Area (AFRO),  quite a lot of international locations have developed and are implementing Nationwide High quality Insurance policies and Methods (NQPS), together with affected person security motion plans in addition to different security interventions comparable to An infection Prevention and Management IPC) to make well being care safer. The voices of sufferers and households are mirrored in our actions by way of varied channels, together with affected person illustration on management buildings and implementation of consumer suggestions methods. Evidently, extra actions must be completed to advocate for the significance of affected person and household engagement, affected person empowerment, and networks of affected person advocates.

The standard of care offered in our member states is commonly jeopardized on account of lack of coordination and fragmentation of high quality programmes, human useful resource challenges, insufficient information to information decision-making- to say a couple of.

On at the present time, we reinforce partnerships for affected person security.

The World Affected person Security Motion Plan 2021-2030 outlines necessary pointers, together with figuring out native and tailor-made approaches to:

• Interact sufferers, households and civil society organizations within the co-development of insurance policies, plans, methods, programmes, and pointers to make well being care safer.
• Study from the experiences of sufferers and households uncovered to unsafe care to enhance understanding of the character of hurt and foster the event of simpler options.
• Construct the capability of affected person advocates and champions in affected person security.
• Set up the precept and apply of openness and transparency in well being care, together with measures for disclosure of affected person security incidents to sufferers and households.
• Present data and schooling to sufferers and households for his or her involvement in self-care and empower them for shared decision-making. 

Nevertheless, there are lots of boundaries to efficient affected person engagement, comparable to insufficient information and coaching, unclear expectations, and energy dynamics.

It’s essential to acknowledge that many stakeholders engaged in well being and healthcare in our area have to turn into extra conversant in the ideas related to affected person and household engagement, that are key in making certain affected person security. Additionally they want extra capability to include affected person and household engagement into new or present affected person security and general service supply efforts. 

Collective efforts to offer academic instruments for sufferers and ship programmes and providers tailor-made to their wants and preferences can improve affected person experiences and provide useful impacts and higher scientific and general well being outcomes. 

Unsafe well being care has resulted in tragic penalties for sufferers, their households, and communities. It has had far-reaching monetary implications for high-income and low- and middle-income international locations, with practically 15% of hospital expenditure and exercise attributed to treating security failures. Within the WHO African Area, out of the 21 international locations that possess information, solely 4 have a nationwide affected person security motion (or equal) plan and a system for reporting affected person security incident that ends in severe affected person hurt or dying, comparable to wrong-site surgical procedure;   three reported that they’d a affected person consultant on the governing board in most hospitals; not one of the international locations had a yearly annual report on affected person security efficiency or had established a nationwide affected person security community.

Subsequently, it’s essential to completely decide to implementing the WHO World Affected person Security name and speed up obligatory actions to boost sufferers’ voices on this World Affected person Security Day.

I urge our Member States to work collectively to boost consciousness, present platforms for affected person considerations, share initiatives and greatest practices, and take motion to scale back avoidable hurt.

As said within the imaginative and prescient of the World Affected person Security Motion Plan 2021-2030, we are able to try in direction of “a world wherein no affected person is harmed in healthcare, and everybody receives secure care, each time, all over the place.”

Study extra:

WHO Global Patient Safety Challenge: Engage Sufferers for Affected person Security

1. The Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030
2.  CUSP: Patient and Family Engagement – YouTube
3. A ROADMAP FOR Affected person + Household Engagement in Healthcare Observe and Analysis Sensible methods for advancing engagement in healthcare—beginning as we speak. Roadmap-Patient-Family-Engagement.pdf (air.org)
4. Slawomirski, L., A. Auraaen and N. Klazinga (2017), “The economics of affected person security: Strengthening a value-based method to lowering affected person hurt at nationwide stage”, OECD Well being Working Papers, No. 96, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5a9858cd-en.
5. Marzban S, Najafi M, Agolli A, Ashrafi E. Affect of Affected person Engagement on Healthcare High quality: A Scoping Overview. Journal of Affected person Expertise. 2022 Sep;9:23743735221125439.
6. Graffigna G, Barello S, Bonanomi A, Lozza E. Measuring affected person engagement: improvement and psychometric properties of the Affected person Well being Engagement (PHE) Scale. Frontiers in psychology. 2015 Mar 27;6:274.
7. Tzeng HM, Marcus Pierson J. Measuring affected person engagement: which healthcare engagement behaviours are necessary to sufferers?. Journal of superior nursing. 2017 Jul;73(7):1604-9.