By Joke Kujenya
SaAFE HEALTH care is a right every child should enjoy, yet for millions across the world, it remains an unmet need.
From birth to early childhood, the risks are higher than at any other stage of life, the World Health Organisation (WHO), has noted.
Also, rapid development, fragile immune systems, and dependence on adults make children especially vulnerable. When medical care fails them, the consequences can last a lifetime.
This year, World Patient Safety Day (WPSD), observed on 17 September 2025, takes on a critical theme: ensuring safe care for newborns and children up to the age of nine.
The slogan, “Patient Safety From The Start!”, calls for urgent and consistent action to prevent avoidable harm in paediatric care.
The WHO is also urging parents, caregivers, health practitioners, educators, and communities to unite in ensuring safe, quality care for every child.
The focus ties directly into Sustainable Development Goal 3 — achieving good health and well-being for all ages.
Health leaders note that while patient safety is a universal concern, the youngest patients face unique risks.
Unlike adults, they cannot voice concerns, challenge medical errors, or fully describe their symptoms.
They rely entirely on adults to speak up on their behalf. Socio-economic status compounds these risks: children from poor households often cannot access the care they need, or face overcrowded, under-resourced facilities that increase the chances of mistakes.
Across the world, stories abound of how a single medical error has reshaped the future of a child and their family.
In Lagos, Nigeria, the case of a two-year-old boy, Michael Alebe, admitted for malaria treatment illustrates this reality.
A wrong dosage of medication left him with neurological complications that now affect his speech and learning abilities.
His mother, a market trader, speaking with JKNewsMedia, recalls that she noticed the dosage looked unusual but felt too intimidated to question the medical staff.
“I kept quiet because I thought they knew better,” she said. Her regret underscores WHO’s message: parents must feel empowered to ask, confirm, and speak up.
In India, a hospital in New Delhi responded to rising cases of neonatal infections by creating a family-participation ward where parents are trained in basic hygiene protocols like handwashing and sterilisation.
The initiative reduced infection rates by more than 30 percent within a year.
Such examples highlight the role families play when given the tools and confidence to advocate for their children’s safety.
Paediatric care also requires special attention to context.
In rural Kenya, a lack of electricity in some health centres has forced midwives to deliver babies by torchlight.
Such conditions raise the risk of errors, infections, and complications.
By contrast, targeted investments in solar-powered maternity wards have improved outcomes dramatically, reducing neonatal deaths and ensuring safer deliveries.
These stories show that patient safety is not just about medical knowledge — it also depends on infrastructure, resources, and leadership.
WHO stresses that preventable harm to children in health care can be reduced through simple, consistent measures.
Tracking symptoms, keeping a record of medications, and checking for allergies are basic steps that parents can take.
Hospitals, for their part, must create systems that double-check prescriptions, enforce hygiene protocols, and ensure staff are trained in child-specific care.
Parents’ Role
Parents and families remain the first line of defence in protecting children during medical care.
WHO’s guidance for this year’s WPSD stresses four practical steps: track and share information, stay informed, ask and confirm, and trust instincts.
These actions are not abstract advice but life-saving practices.
Mothers in parts of sub-Saharan Africa are already taking up the challenge by keeping handwritten notebooks of their children’s medical histories.
These records include symptoms, previous treatments, and vaccinations, ensuring continuity of care when families move between rural clinics and urban hospitals.
In Tanzania, one such initiative reduced duplication of treatments and cut down on prescription errors by 20 percent.
Parents are also urged to insist on handwashing and adherence to hospital safety rules such as visitor restrictions.
In Brazil, where hospitals faced outbreaks of respiratory infections among children, a simple campaign encouraging parents to remind staff about hand hygiene reduced infection rates within weeks.
Speaking up remains critical. Families often feel hesitant to question medical staff, but WHO stresses that parents are their child’s best advocates.
In the United States, campaigns like “Speak Up for Safety” have empowered thousands of parents to challenge prescriptions or procedures, leading to safer outcomes. Similar efforts in Africa and Asia are now beginning to spread.
Health Workers’ Role
Health professionals carry a unique responsibility in ensuring safe paediatric care.
Unlike adults, children require weight-based dosing, smaller medical equipment, and procedures tailored to their age.
Yet in many settings, staff lack adequate training in these specifics.
A Ugandan study revealed that nearly 15 percent of paediatric medication errors involved incorrect dosages.
The absence of child-specific drug formulations often forces health workers to adapt adult medications by splitting tablets or diluting liquids, increasing the risk of miscalculation.
WHO has called for urgent investment in paediatric medicines and devices.
Frontline health workers also need the right tools. In Nigeria, midwives in rural communities have reported difficulty resuscitating newborns due to the lack of neonatal equipment.
By contrast, pilot programmes supplying low-cost, durable neonatal resuscitation kits have saved countless lives.
Training and equipment together make the difference between survival and tragedy.
Hygiene and infection control remain another pressing concern. In overcrowded hospitals, one child’s infection can spread quickly to others.
In India, training nurses and junior doctors in strict hand hygiene and sterile technique has cut paediatric infection rates substantially.
Health workers must embrace these protocols not as optional practices but as professional duties.
Policy Leadership
Leadership at national and international levels remains critical in embedding patient safety into child health systems.
Policy determines whether hospitals are adequately staffed, medicines are available, and families are supported.
Rwanda’s maternal and child health programme demonstrates the impact of leadership.
By combining community health workers, emergency referral systems, and data monitoring,
Rwanda significantly reduced under-five mortality in just a decade.
Strong governance turned fragmented efforts into a nationwide safety net for children.
In contrast, many countries struggle with underinvestment.
Facilities without electricity, clean water, or essential medicines cannot deliver safe care.
Leaders must therefore prioritise health budgets, strengthen supply chains, and invest in training.
Patient safety should not be an afterthought but a core part of national health planning.
International cooperation also matters.
Global initiatives such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and WHO’s Essential Medicines List for children have shown how coordinated leadership can bring life-saving interventions to millions.
Expanding these models to focus explicitly on patient safety could accelerate progress.
At the community level, local leaders, educators, and faith groups also influence health behaviour.
When trusted figures speak out about safe practices, families are more likely to follow them.
Leadership must therefore extend beyond ministries of health to every layer of society.
The urgency is evident in global statistics.
Nearly 5 million children under five die each year, many from preventable causes such as infections, malnutrition, or unsafe medical practices.
In sub-Saharan Africa, unsafe injections and lack of sterile equipment contribute to disease transmission among children. Each figure represents a preventable tragedy.
World Patient Safety Day 2025 is not just a commemoration.
It is a call to action that demands commitment from parents, health workers, and leaders alike. Safe care from the start not only saves lives today but shapes healthier, more productive societies tomorrow, the WHO concluded.
