Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030: Towards Eliminating …

World Health Organization. Global patient safety action plan 2021–2030: towards eliminating avoidable harm in health care. Geneva. 2021. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

Today, patient harm due to unsafe care is a large and growing global public health challenge and is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Most of this patient harm is avoidable. As countries strive to achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, the beneficial effects of improved access to health services can be undermined by unsafe care. Patient safety incidents can cause death and disability, and suffering for victims and their families. The financial and economic costs of safety lapses are high. There is often reduced public confidence and trust in local health systems when such incidents are publicized. Health workers involved in serious incidents involving death or serious harm to a patient can also suffer lasting psychological harm and deep-seated feelings of guilt and self-criticism.

The benefits of having a strategic and coordinated approach to patient safety, addressing the common causes of harm and the approaches to preventing it, have been recognized by policy-makers and political and health leaders worldwide. Global advocacy in recent years has culminated in the adoption by the Seventy-second World Health Assembly (in 2019) of resolution WHA72.6 on “Global action on patient safety”.

The resolution urges Member States – and, where applicable, regional economic integration organizations – to recognize patient safety as a health priority in health sector policies and programmes to achieve universal health coverage. The World Health Assembly also requested the World Health Organization (WHO) to formulate a global patient safety action plan in consultation with Member States and all relevant stakeholders.

The Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly (in 2021) approved the Decision WHA74(13) to adopt the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030 and to request the Director-General to report back on progress in the implementation of the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030 to the Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly in 2023 and thereafter every two years until 2031.

Disponível Em: <https://www.who.int/>