Patient safety from the start: Why it matters for Uganda’s children

Uganda joined the global community on September 17 in observing World Patient Safety Day, focusing this year on the theme “Safe care for every newborn and every child” with the slogan “Patient safety from the start!” to highlight the heightened vulnerability of this age group to harm from unsafe healthcare. This day, established by the World Health Organization (WHO), aims to foster worldwide solidarity and coordinated efforts to minimize risks and improve safety in healthcare.

September 17 serves as a valuable opportunity to increase public awareness and promote collaboration among government, stakeholders, communities, and health workers to drive collective action toward enhancing patient safety.

This day encourages initiatives aimed at minimizing medical errors, enhancing communication between patients and providers, and reinforcing infection control and surgical measures.

In Uganda, World Patient Safety Day was commemorated by lighting up the Source of the Nile Bridge in Jinja in orange, the official color of the global health awareness campaign. The event was organized through a partnership between the Ministry of Works and Transport and the Ministry of Health. This year’s focus on newborns and children is especially important as Uganda continues to face high rates of preventable infant deaths and maternal health complications.

It is important to have patient safety for children, but real action is needed.

Patient safety is especially critical for Uganda’s children because they are a highly vulnerable group. Despite the progress registered over the years in child health, the country continues to deal with high rates of preventable deaths among infants and children, and a large portion of these deaths is a result of unsafe or inadequate healthcare. Their physiology is constantly changing as they grow, which affects everything from vital signs and drug dosages to their ability to communicate symptoms and needs. This makes them more susceptible to medical errors, especially given that pediatric medicines are routinely in short supply, leading to improvisation with adult tablets being broken in half – often inaccurately – or crushed into powder, with the risk of contamination and spillage.

While a Patient Rights and Responsibilities Charter exists, there needs to be a specific, legally-backed national policy for patient safety with a focus on pediatrics. This policy should mandate safety standards, reporting mechanisms for medical errors, and clear accountability for healthcare facilities and providers.

The National Drug Authority and other regulatory bodies need to enforce stricter standards for healthcare facilities, ensuring they have the proper equipment, drugs, and trained staff to safely care for children. This should include regular, unannounced inspections and a transparent process for addressing non-compliance.

Medical and nursing schools need to place a greater emphasis on pediatrics, including specialized training in neonatal and pediatric critical care. This includes both pre-service and in-service training programs to ensure that all healthcare workers who interact with children have the necessary skills.

Our health officials have stressed that the campaign offers a crucial opportunity to unite the public and service providers in enhancing safety standards and promoting greater accountability in service delivery, but this needs to be followed up with dedicated interventions at all levels of policy, programming, medical training and practice, regulation, drug research, and community awareness. At  HEPS-Uganda@25, we believe that every child deserves a healthy start in life. Through our work, we not only protect children and community health, but we also strengthen the safety of entire healthcare systems.

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