WPA Celebrates World Patient Safety Day 2020
The World Patients Alliance (WPA) is a nonprofit umbrella organization of patients, patients’ organizations and stakeholders from around the globe. The WPA provides the platform to empower and raise the patients’ voice for the provision and access to safe, quality and affordable healthcare. We work toward ensuring patients have an active role to play in all the stages of healthcare that include planning, provision, monitoring, research and evaluation of health services. We represent patients from all world regions and across all disease areas.
Our vision is that all patients will have access to safe, high quality and affordable healthcare everywhere in the world. Our mission is to be the global voice of patients working toward patient empowerment & engagement, improved access to safe innovative treatment and patient centered healthcare throughout the world.
On September 17th 2020, the World Patients Alliance marked the WHO’s World Patient Safety Day with a series of events and initiatives to raise awareness of this important day.
WPA invited all of its over 100-member patient groups, across 38 different countries to participate in the various activities listed below. In addition to the this, WPA provided each member patient group with a social media tool kit which they could utilize in amplifying messaging regarding the day and its event priorities.
Conferences
WPA participated in the organization of two conferences in collaboration with other WPA member groups, and other healthcare organizations.
One of WPA’s founding board members, Jolanta Bilinska organized and hosted a conference in Lodz, Poland to mark WPSD. This conference had over 40 attendees who were education in the importance of health worker and patient safety.
WPA hosted and participated in a conference in Pakistan at Fatima Jinnah Medical University in Lahore on Patient Safety – in collaborationwith WHO Pakistan and Health Department Punjab. Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Health Minister Punjab was the keynote guest at this seminar. WPA’s Dr. Jafri discussed patient safety and how it is the priority of the government in Pakistan, additionally, Dr. Jafri highlighted a number of new patient safety initiatives which have been started in Punjab.
Awareness Walks
WPA and WPA member groups; Alzheimer’s Pakistan, Thalassemia Society of Pakistan and Jahandad Society for Community Development, in collaboration with Government College University, Lahore came together for a WPSD awareness walk. Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Health Minister Punjab attended and participated as the guest of honor.
In Lodz, Poland, WPA and WPA member groups organized and participated in an awareness walk to mark WPSD. In addition to this, participants of this WPSD walk were also instructed in other physical exercises which pertained directly to personal health and wellbeing.
Illumination of Monuments
Joining other cities around the world in lighting up prominent monuments to mark WPSD, many buildings across the Punjab province and capital city, Lahore participated in turning buildings orange to mark patient safety with the most notable being; Minar e Pakistan, and Summit Minar.
Media Coverage
Efforts by WPA and its member groups celebrating WPSD in around the world achieved wide social media, print and electronic media coverage. The inaugural seminar, hosted by WPA in collaboration with others in Pakistan was covered and broadcast live by leading national TV channels.
