World Patient Safety Day
Next: September 17, 2027
First, do no harm.
The story
Where it comes from
The World Health Assembly established World Patient Safety Day in May 2019 and the first was held on 17 September that year. It calls on hospitals, health workers and patients to reduce avoidable harm in health care, from medication errors to infections and misdiagnosis.
How it's celebrated
Landmarks are lit orange, the campaign colour; hospitals hold safety briefings and patient forums; the WHO sets a yearly theme such as medication safety or diagnosis.
Did you know
- The WHO estimates that unsafe care is one of the ten leading causes of death and disability worldwide.
- Surgical safety checklists, introduced widely after 2008, have been shown to cut surgical deaths and complications by around a third in some hospitals.
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