Reduce unsafe medication Practices – WHO warns
The World Health Organisation has urged stakeholders in healthcare delivery to urgently intensify efforts toward reducing medication related harm.
According to the global health agency, half of all preventable harm in medical care worldwide is medication related of which a quarter is either severe or life threatening.
It stressed the global problems of medication harm noting that the aged population is one of the most at-risk groups for medication harm, particularly those taking numerous drugs. WHO stated this in anticipation of the 2022 World Patient Safety Day.
The UN health agency said, “Unsafe medication practices and medication errors are one of the main causes of injury and avoidable harm in health care systems across the world. The elderly population is one of the most at-risk groups for medication harm, especially those taking multiple medications.
“The global cost associated with medication errors has been estimated at US$42 billion annually. Medication errors happen due to systemic issues and/or human factors such as fatigue, poor environmental conditions, or staff shortages which affect prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, administration and monitoring practices. These errors can result in severe harm, disability and even death.
“WHO is advocating for urgent improvement in strategies to reduce medication related harm in key risk areas.
“Furthermore, it is working with partners to develop a set of medication safety technical resources, including a policy brief and medication safety solutions such as medication safety for look-alike sound-alike (LASA) medicines.
“LASA medicines may look or sound similar to each other, either by their generic name, or brand name. They might have similar packaging, similar sounding names, or similar spellings.
“WHO is calling on stakeholders to continue efforts to reduce medication related harm, develop strategies and structures to improve medication safety at local, national, regional and global levels and make a pledge to adopt the Medication Without Harm Challenge,” the global health agency added.
WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Medicines are powerful tools for protecting health. But medicines that are wrongly prescribed, taken incorrectly or are of poor quality, can cause serious harm. Nobody should be harmed while seeking care.”
Punch/ Lucy Offoboche
