In low- and middle-income countries in the Southeast Asia region of the World Health Organization, patient harm due to unsafe care contributes to an estimated 134 million adverse events annually, resulting in around 2.6 million deaths, the global body said in a press release.
Unsafe medication practices and errors can occur at different stages of the medication use process and can result from weak medication systems and/or human factors such as fatigue, poor environmental conditions and staff shortage.
Highlighting the urgent need for patient safety, the organisation said that there was an urgent need to prevent avoidable injury and harm in health care systems, with a focus on ending unsafe medication practices and medication errors.
