Media Advisory N° 16: The World Alliance for Patient Safety
Global health leaders call for accelerated efforts to improve patient safety
Washington/Geneva - One in ten patients worldwide becomes sick, is injured or even dies as a result of the health care they receive. Many of these adverse events in health care delivery, including medical errors, are preventable. To combat this problem and improve patient safety, global health leaders and the World Health Organization (WHO) are launching the World Alliance for Patient Safety on 27 October 2004, at 10 am in Washington, D.C., at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
WHO, as the global public health agency, is spearheading efforts to bridge the safety gap between patients and health care provision and to tackle patient safety issues on a worldwide scale.
The launch will bring together ministers of health and senior representatives from several countries to advance the goal of patient safety and strengthen common action to integrate patient safety issues in national health policy and practice.
WHAT
High-level global launch of the World Alliance for Patient Safety. The launch will be organized around a series of keynote speeches.
WHO
Dr LEE Jong-wook, Director-General of WHO
Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health, UK and Chair of the World Alliance for Patient Safety
Dr Ebrahim Samba, Regional Director of the WHO Regional Office for Africa
Dr Marc Danzon, Regional Director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe through videoconferencing
Dr Shigeru Omi, Regional Director of the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific through videoconferencing
Mrs Susan Sheridan, Consumers Advancing Patient Safety
Dr Mirta Roses, Director, Pan American Health Organization and Regional Director, WHO Office for the Americas, will host the event.
WHEN
10:00 am (EST), Wednesday 27 October 2004
WHERE
Pan American Health Organization, 525 23rd Street, NW, Washington DC, 20037: Second Floor
To join the event by videoconferencing
- UK: The Nuffield Trust, 59 New Cavendish Street, London, W1G 7LP, at 15:00 local time. Contact: Mr Martin Fletcher, Mob: + 44 7980616992
- Switzerland: WHO Headquarters, 20 Avenue Appia, at 16:00 local time. Contact Dr Roisin Rooney, Phone: + 41 22 791 2991
- Congo: WHO Regional Office for Africa, Cite du Djoue, Brazzaville, at 15:00 local time. Contact: Dr Bernard Lala, Phone:+ 47 241 39100
- Denmark: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 8, Scherfigsvej, Copenhagen , at 16:00 local time. Contact: Dr. Valentina Hafner, Phone: +45 3917 1255
- Egypt: WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Abdelrazak El Sanhoury Street Nasr City, Cairo, at 17:00 local time. Contact: Dr Amr Mahgoub, Phone: +202 2765327
For Media
The launch is open to journalists. There will be a question and answer session.
For media accreditation, contact: Sonia Mey Verme, PAHO, Tel: (202) 974-3036 e-mail: maysonia@paho.org
Media inquiries: Contact Daniel Epstein, PAHO, Tel: (202) 974 3459, e-mail: epsteind@paho.org or Agnès Leotsakos, Patient Safety Unit, WHO, Tel: + 41 22 791 2567 Mobile: + 41 79 615 5025 , e-mail: leotsakosa@who.int