World Patient Safety Day 2025: Ensuring Safe Care for Every Newborn and Child
Weere – Kampala, 17 September 2025
The World Health Organization (WHO) has again sounded the alarm over the pervasive risks that newborns and young children face in health care settings — risks that are often preventable. As the global community observes World Patient Safety Day on 17 September 2025, the theme is “Safe care for every newborn and every child”, with the slogan “Patient safety from the start!”
Children are not simply mini-adults. Rapid physical growth, developmental changes, different disease patterns, and their inability to communicate fully about what’s wrong make them especially vulnerable. Common harms in pediatric and neonatal care include medication errors, infections acquired in hospitals, delayed or misdiagnoses, and complications from medical equipment.
Key Issues
Age‐specific vulnerabilities: Children under the age of 9, especially newborns, have physiological and immunological traits that require specialized and scaled care, which many health systems are ill-prepared for. For example, errors in dosing, or failure to monitor equipment properly, can lead to serious harm.
Preventable harm: The WHO estimates many adverse events in newborn and child care are preventable with better systems, training, and awareness.
Systems & caregiver involvement: Ensuring safety depends not just on medical staff but also on engaged caregivers (parents/families), strong policy frameworks, proper infrastructure, continuous training, and infection control.
Global Call to Action
WHO, along with partners such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), are urging governments, civil society, and healthcare providers to:
Raise awareness of the unique safety risks to children.
Implement safety protocols, such as safe childbirth checklists and rigorous infection prevention.
Empower caregivers: encourage parents and guardians to know their rights and participate as partners in the care of their children.
Strengthen surveillance and reporting systems for adverse events in child care.
Relevance for Uganda
While much of the data comes from WHO’s global and regional reports, Uganda shares many of the challenges:
Gaps in neonatal and pediatric care infrastructure in rural areas
Inconsistent resources (staff, medical supplies, training) at lower-level health facilities
The need for greater public awareness so that parents demand safer care and are alert to signs of medical error
If Uganda can accelerate adoption of safety measures — such as standard protocols, better staff training, and active involvement of caregivers — the country stands to reduce neonatal mortality and childhood morbidity, contributing to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health & Well-Being).
“Every child has the right to safe, quality care — from the very beginning of life.” — WHO statement
“Preventable errors such as mistakes with medications, misdiagnoses, or healthcare-associated infections threaten the future of the most vulnerable.” — Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, Director at PAHO
