Wrong Medication leads to 3 million deaths Annually, WHO Laments
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has lamented medication errors which it says contribute to more than three million deaths globally every year.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, made the declaration in her message to mark the 2022 World Patient Safety Day.
The day is observed annually on September 17 to raise global awareness about patient safety and to call for solidarity and united action by all countries and international partners to reduce patients’ harm.
Ms Moeti said the day aims at raising awareness of the importance of people-centred care and preventing harm to patients.
She noted that medication errors were exacerbated by overwhelmed health systems during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to her, about one in every four cases of preventable medication harm is clinically severe, or life-threatening.
“While there is limited data for the African continent, it is generally acknowledged that there is a high magnitude of unsafe medication practices,” she noted.
The world patient safety day focuses on three primary areas – high-risk situations, transitions of care and ‘polypharmacy’, which is the use of multiple medicines at once, Ms Moeti noted.
Read Also:
“Poly pharmacies are particularly common amongst older people with chronic health diseases. Medication errors occur because of weaknesses in medication systems and are aggravated by shortages of well-trained health staff and poor working and environmental conditions for delivery of quality healthcare.
“Among low and medium-income countries, the African region has the highest prevalence of substandard and counterfeit medicines of about 18.7 per cent,” she said.
The WHO chief condemned the administration of surplus medication at home; the purchase of medication from pharmacies on the advice of friends and relatives rather than on prescription by trained professionals.
Ms Moeti stressed that the use of old prescriptions to buy medication to treat current ailment is a common practice that should be stopped while also noting that medication systems and human factors were major contributory factors to unsafe practices. According to her many countries lacked the capacity to detect, evaluate and prevent medicine safety issues.
Illiteracy, language difficulties, as well as socio-cultural and religious beliefs, were also identified as exacerbating medication errors.
The Director said that WHO was working with member states to implement the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021 – 2030.
Ms Moeti said that 39 WHO member states had developed essential medicines lists linked to standard treatment guidelines.
According to her, 25 member states have also developed national medicine formularies that guide the selection of medicines for procurement, prescription and dispensing practices. She then encouraged healthcare to take a more active role in ensuring safer medication practices, and medication-use processes.
SOURCE: The Paradise
