World Health Organization (WHO) – World Patient Safety Day 2026

To strengthen and advance patient safety for people living with chronic conditions, it is fundamental to recognize lived experience as a form of expertise and see people as active partners in safe care rather than passive patients.

• A people-centred approach to safe care focuses on a person’s comprehensive wellbeing rather than on traditional disease management alone.
• This requires medical models and treatment plans that are tailored to the realities of people’s lives, including their living conditions, work contexts, and mental health needs.
• Meaningful engagement and ownership of care among people with lived experience can also lead to improved trust in healthcare providers and a better understanding of potential risks, and safer and more effective self-management. 

The theme for World Patient Safety Day (September 17, 2026) is ‘Safe care for people who have noncommunicable diseases’. People living with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) (chronic – nontransmissible) face a heightened risk of preventable harm in health care.

• Under the slogan ‘Safe care for life!’, the campaign highlights the importance of preventing harm across the continuum of NCD care and in preserving life and the quality of people’s lives.

Harm may arise from multiple sources such as:

• diagnostic delays,
• medication errors,
• health care-associated infections and unsafe use of medical devices.
• the long-term nature of chronic diseases,
• their complex management and related vulnerabilities.
• health system challenges,
• such as barriers to accessing care,.
• or fragmented and poorly coordinated care..
• Determinants of health,
• including poverty,,
• limited health literacy,,
• stigma and discrimination,,
• as well as harmful environmental exposures,,

Noncommunicable diseases affect billions of people worldwide and account for around 43 million deaths annually, with the majority occurring in low- and middle-income countries. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/world-patient-safety-day/announcing-world-patient-safety-day-2026.pdf?sfvrsn=193c3432_15. In Canada 67% of all deaths are related to chronic conditions (200,000 Canadians/ year.

WHO Objectives of World Patient Safety Day 2026

• Raise global awareness of patient safety challenges associated with NCDs across the continuum of care while considering:
• disease-related factors
• health system challenges
• determinants of health that may increase the risk of harm.
• Promote the meaningful engagement of people living with NCDs and communities, in:
• identifying safety risks
• co-developing solutions with health practitioners, organizational leaders and policy-makers.
• Encourage stakeholders integrate patient safety principles:
• Within NCD-related legislation, policies, strategies, programmes and service.
• By strengthening Primary Healthcare.
• Support health workers in strengthening patient safety practices:
• safer diagnosis
• medication safety
• meaningful patient engagement.

WHO Knowledge Action Portal on NCDs

As many NCDs are chronic health conditions that require long-term management or care, people living NCDs are repeatedly exposed to healthcare risks and hazards

• They typically rely on health systems across multiple entry points and while transitioning across different levels of care or facilities.
• At the same time, many people live with multiple chronic conditions – for example cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases, congenital conditions and cancer – and hence have multiple treatments and medications at the same time.
• This can further increase risks of errors, misuse, adverse reactions, or other safety or quality issues.

A person’s risk of being exposed to unsafe care is increased by social determinants of health such as poverty, economic disparities, conflict & emergencies, gender, or age, etc.

• Inequitable access to screening and healthcare facilities, for example, increase patient safety risks – particularly in in low-income settings and among or vulnerable groups.
• Similarly, power imbalances and low health literacy and stigma within a community can create an environment where people do not feel safe to seek care without judgment and blame, or do not have the psychological safety to speak up about safety risks or the harm they are experiencing.
• Importantly, these social, political or environmental drivers often remain outside of the control of people.
• Addressing them requires reducing the power imbalances, through a rights-based approach to health and the meaningful inclusion of people with lived experience in all health-related decision making.