Every year on 17 September, the World Health Organization marks World Patient Safety Day to call for global action to reduce patient harm. 🩺 The theme for 2026 is “Safe care for noncommunicable diseases”, with the slogan “Safe care for life!” — a reminder that patient safety does not stop at the hospital door, but follows people through every stage of long-term, chronic care.
Noncommunicable diseases — cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory conditions — now account for 74% of deaths worldwide and affect billions of people who rely on care for months or years at a time. 📊 That ongoing, complex care comes with real risk: globally, 1 in 10 patients is harmed while receiving health care, and around half of that harm is preventable. For people living with cancer, roughly 1 in 3 experience an adverse event during treatment.
This year’s campaign centres on four key messages: 🎯
🔹 Higher risk: People living with NCDs face a higher risk of harm, because their care is more complex and often spread across many providers and settings.
🔹 Risk at every stage: Safety risks appear at every stage — from prevention and diagnosis to long-term management — and across every setting, from hospitals to home care.
🔹 Strong systems: Strong, well-integrated health systems and a supported workforce are essential to keeping care safe.
🔹 Patients as partners: Patients and informal caregivers must be treated as meaningful partners in care, not passive recipients of it.
These messages sit close to home for BetterCare. 🤝 Much of the long-term, everyday care that people with noncommunicable diseases rely on happens outside the hospital — often provided by informal caregivers at home. Preventing caregiving errors and equipping caregivers with the knowledge to act safely is exactly the gap our Action was set up to close.
đź“… Date: 17 September 2026
🌍 How to take part: illuminate a landmark or building in orange, and share your organisation’s World Patient Safety Day plans using #WorldPatientSafetyDay
đź”— Learn more: who.int/campaigns/world-patient-safety-day
đź’¬ Share a short comment
Marking World Patient Safety Day 2026? Tell us in a few words below — we'd love to hear from you.