WHO urges Africa to strengthen safety of care for noncommunicable diseases — Premium Times Nigeria
In Nigeria, the World Health Organization called on African countries to strengthen patient safety in the provision of medical care to people with noncommunicable diseases. WHO Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Janabi made the appeal for World Patient Safety Day 2026, Premium Times Nigeria reports.
This year's day was themed “Safe care for noncommunicable diseases,” with the slogan “Safe care for every life.” Such diseases include diabetes, cancer, heart disease and chronic respiratory diseases.
Risks during long-term treatment
According to Janabi, treatment for such patients is usually not limited to a single doctor’s visit and may involve years of consultations, examinations, medication, referrals and therapy. At each of these stages, a person may suffer avoidable harm.
He listed delayed or missed diagnoses, medication errors, adverse drug interactions, inadequate follow-up and insufficient communication when a patient moves between different health services among the risks. Problems can arise during diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, palliative care and self-management of health.
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Burden of noncommunicable diseases
Noncommunicable diseases caused at least 43 million deaths worldwide in 2021, the WHO regional director said. In 2019, they accounted for 37% of all deaths in the WHO African Region, compared with 24% in 2000.
Nearly two-thirds of deaths from such diseases in the region are premature, while globally the figure is 41.7%. WHO also links the growing burden of these diseases to unhealthy diets, insufficient physical activity, hypertension, obesity and air pollution.
Janabi called for patient safety to be integrated into policies and programmes on noncommunicable diseases, for systems to report and analyze harm to be developed, and for investment in training health workers and the safe use of medicines and medical technologies. He also stressed the need to strengthen primary health care to ensure continuity of treatment and coordination of services.
