Medication Without Harm 2022

Medication errors and unsafe medication practices lead to avoidable harm or injury costing the global healthcare system up to $42 billion annually. These result from numerous loopholes in health care, particularly tied to working conditions and component systems being subpar. For example, we can find a link between a poorly labeled batch of drugs or raw materials and some #medicationerrors leading to possibly life-threatening consequences in the affected consumer populations. The easy questions to ask are Who was responsible for labeling these? Don’t we have professionals in pharma anymore? Here’s a fun exclamation to go with They had just one job! One job! Well, yes they did. However, a perfect #supplychain has remained a dream concerning most medical supplies required by the #healthcare system. Advancements have been made and are still being made

The World Health Organization (WHO) established the World Patient Safety Day in 2019 at the 72nd World Health Assembly to get all stakeholders on board towards reducing casualties related to medication errors and unsafe medication practices. It holds on the 17th of September of every year and is an extension of the #WHO Global Patient Safety Challenge launched in 2017. This year’s theme is Medication Safety with a tagline, Medication Without Harm. Finally, healthcare is beginning to focus on the most important element in the system – patients. Why else do we have professionals training rigorously for years; bagging certification after certification, and being vetted and kept in check by appropriate councils and national bodies? Patients! One could easily describe the healthcare system as a musical or circus with the patient as the main character and such description would pass.

The World Patient Safety Challenge is in order seeing as we just marked the International Overdose Awareness Day on the 31st of August. The poor state of #medicinesdistribution concerning availability and accessibility produces a lot of negative effects whether in cases of scarcity or surplus. There have been more than 200,000 overdose-related deaths in the 2000s, reaching an all-time high in 2020 (about 100,000). Coupled with other severe health consequences related to medication errors, there is an elephant in the room to be addressed and this will take an entire city, if not more. All stakeholders must be on board. This is what the WHO seeks to achieve with the #GlobalPatientSafetyChallenge.

What is the Global Health Safety Challenge About?

The 2022 edition with the tagline “Medication Without Harm” is the third edition of this challenge. It is directed at reducing medication-related injuries by 50% globally in the next 5 years. WHO seeks to mobilize member states and concerned organizations towards relevant engagements and empowerment programs that improve the safety of medication practices. The WHO has established a strategic framework to guide all shareholders. This will reduce the tendency to beat the air in the guise of solution provision. The strategic framework highlights three key action areas namely; #polypharmacy, high-risk situations, and transition of care.

The framework also consists of four domains. The domains are patients and the public, health care professionals, systems and practices of medication, and medicines. Each domain includes four subdomains (16 in total). These subdomains and the three key action areas make up the core of the strategic framework. The WHO understands that the task of improving medication practices involves equipping patients, the public, and professionals with adequate information and providing the right materials and systems. Hence, stakeholders are encouraged to hold events that breathe strength into as many areas of the framework as possible. This healthcare system will not get better just by staring at it. We must all be involved as we will enjoy the benefits in some way or the other.