The World Health Organisation (WHO), which has launched new guidance aimed at reducing avoidable medicine harm, says one in 20 patients experience avoidable side effects from medication, with this figure rising to 7% in developing countries – and with associated costs of $40bn per year.
Causes range from taking the medication at the wrong time to taking an inappropriate drug, which might result in unpredicted harm as serious as yet another disease or even death, reports Heath Policy Watch.
Dr Maria Panagioti, senior lecturer in primary care and Health Services Research at Manchester University and one of the authors of the new WHO systematic review, “Global burden of preventable medication-related harm”, said errors like this are not uncommon.
Dr Neelam Dhingra, head of WHO’s Patient Safety Unit, said that while developing new treatments and better policies was important, much progress could be achieved as a result of simply “doing no harm”.
Reduction targets are scarce
Only 18% of WHO member countries have a national target for reducing medication-related harm.
Seven years ago, WHO established a Medication Without Harm challenge, with the goal of reducing by half, in five years, the harm caused by incorrect medication. This was followed by a Global Patient Safety Action Plan, approved by the World Health Assembly in 2019. But much remains to be done.
WHO Global burden meds
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