Contacts: qualsafety.whocc@ensp.unl.pt
The World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centres are specialised institutions that play an active role in supporting the WHO in the development and implementation of global health activities. Formally designated by the WHO, these institutions collaborate in the production of scientific and technical knowledge, training and capacity-building of professionals, and the development of global policies and strategies, integrating both regional and global WHO efforts. Each Collaborating Centre has a specific area of expertise, and the renewal of its designation is subject to an evaluation of its performance and alignment with WHO priorities.
In 2020, the World Health Organization designated the NOVA National School of Public Health as WHO Collaborating Centre for Education, Research and Evaluation of Safety and Quality in Healthcare.
This prestigious designation enables closer interaction with the WHO and other international health networks.
For the period from July 2024 to July 2028, the general terms of reference are as follows:
Currently under development:
[This initiative is coordinated by the WHO and the Imperial College team of the Global Patient Safety Collaborative, Centre for Health Policy, Institute of Global Health Innovation.]
Activities carried out and/or in progress:
Activities carried out and/or in progress:
Activities carried out and/or in progress:
Activities carried out and/or in progress:
[Support in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of national policies and strategies in the area of healthcare quality in low- and middle-income countries, primarily Portuguese-speaking countries.]
Activities carried out and/or in progress:
10-11 December 2024 – Athens, Greece
The “Meeting of the Minds” event, organized by the WHO Office in Athens, promoted the discussion of strategies to strengthen the resilience of health systems in the post-COVID era, focusing on the quality of care and patient safety. The initiative, aligned with the European Work Programme 2020-2025, “United Action for Better Health in Europe,” and with the Sustainable Development Goals, seeks to contribute innovative solutions to global challenges such as non-communicable diseases, population aging, and the use of technologies like artificial intelligence. The meeting emphasized the importance of stakeholder engagement, patient experience, and the implementation of improvements in clinical safety and care quality.
Topics discussed:
7-11 October 2024 – Onyria Hotel, Quinta da Marinha, Cascais, Portugal
Aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda, the WHO Athens Office promotes universal access to high-quality health services as an essential part of sustainable development. Improving the quality of care is crucial for the effectiveness of health systems and requires commitment and transformation. With the advancement of Universal Health Coverage, the time is ideal to strengthen systems that promote reliable, valued, and population-tailored care.
Following the success of the 1st European Autumn School on Quality of Care and Patient Safety in 2023, the WHO Europe Office in Athens, in partnership with the NOVA National School of Public Health, held the 2nd edition in Cascais, from 7 to 11 October 2024. The event aimed to expand scientific knowledge and expertise in healthcare quality and safety, both in Europe and globally.
This report presents the first cross-sectional analysis of healthcare quality and patient safety in the WHO European Region. It is based on a macro-level data analysis from international sources and the results of extensive work by WHO Europe carried out in 53 Member States. The findings, based on forty-six indicators, are grouped into two main areas: governance and health system functions, alongside six dimensions of care quality and population health outcomes. Key points include the limited implementation of action plans and national policies for healthcare quality and patient safety, as well as broad variations in the results of indicators for care quality dimensions, health system functions, and population health outcomes across the Region. The report highlights the need for multidimensional quality improvement structures and a systemic approach to quality of care to ensure sustainable, equitable, and high-quality care for all.
The full report can be accessed here.
The 2024 World Health Report, published by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 21 May, highlighted the main challenges and progress in the global health sector. The document underscores that despite continued progress in areas such as increased life expectancy and improved health service coverage, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant setbacks. Between 2019 and 2021, there was a global decline of 1.8 years in life expectancy, returning to levels seen in 2012, with the most significant impacts in the Americas (North and Latin) and Southeast Asia.
The report also emphasizes non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular issues and cancer, which remain the leading causes of death, responsible for 74% of all deaths in the pre-pandemic period. Additionally, issues such as obesity, child malnutrition, and inequalities in healthcare access for vulnerable groups like migrants and people with disabilities were also addressed.
The report stresses the importance of strengthening health systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and proposes innovative strategies to tackle persistent inequalities, highlighting the importance of primary prevention and global health equity. We suggest you read it.
The full report can be accessed here.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Education, Research and Evaluation of Safety and Quality in Healthcare at the NOVA National School of Public Health (NOVA NSPH) has been redesignated for another four years, for the period 2024-2028.
The WHO’s designation of NOVA NSPH as a Collaborating Centre reflects the recognition of its expertise and competencies in the mentioned areas and is based on a history of recognized and valuable collaboration. NOVA NSPH was initially designated as a Collaborating Centre for Education, Research, and Evaluation of Safety and Quality in Healthcare in June 2020.
You can read the full article here.
NOVA NSPH announces its designation as a WHO Collaborating Center for Health Management. This prestigious designation reflects the School’s ongoing commitment to promoting excellence in public health and health management, both nationally and internationally, making it the only WHO Collaborating Center for health management worldwide.
You can read the full article here.
The WHO collaborating centre translated and reviewed, from a technical and scientific perspective, the original version of the WHO Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2023, a document that reflects WHO’s strategy and, consequently, the strategy for Member States for the next decade in the area of patient safety.
In line with one of the activities of our WHO Collaborating Center – collaborating with WHO in the development and/or translation of essential documents and materials in the areas of Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety, we embraced the challenge of translating and reviewing this crucial document for defining, implementing, and monitoring/evaluating strategies and policies in the area of Patient Safety globally.
To view the 2021-2030 plan in Portuguese and/or other languages, click here.
The 1st “Minds on Quality of Care” meeting, organized by the Athens Quality of Care Office, WHO Regional Office for Europe, took place on December 2-3 in Athens. Portugal was represented by Prof. Paulo Sousa and Prof. Adalberto Fernandes from ENSP NOVA, Prof. Fernando Araújo, President of the São João University Hospital, Prof. Válter Fonseca, Director of the Health Quality Department – DGS, Dr. Alexandre Lourenço, President of APAH and the European Association of Hospital Managers, and Dr. António Marques Pinto, President of the European Association of Young Doctors.
Compendium of Applied Best Practices (pdf)
You can find more information here.
Supporting Countries in Adopting the WHO National Quality Policy and Strategy
The Coordinator of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Education, Research, and Evaluation of Safety and Quality in Healthcare, Professor Paulo Sousa, is part of the WHO/ISQua working group supporting countries in implementing the WHO National Quality Policy and Strategy, with a particular focus (but not limited to) Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) and East Timor.
Some members of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Education, Research, and Evaluation of Safety and Quality in Healthcare were responsible for the technical and scientific review of the Portuguese version of the WHO “National Quality Policy and Strategy” document.
The PDF document is available here.
The Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030 can be accessed here.
After the World Health Assembly held on May 28, 2021, the Assembly agreed to define concrete action to eliminate avoidable harm related to or caused by healthcare delivery through the adoption of the first “Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030“.
The WHO Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030 was presented at the 74th World Health Assembly in 2021 by the Executive Board at its 148th session. This was a significant milestone in history, and its adoption will establish, for the first time, a global strategic plan to improve patient safety. Seven strategic goals have been defined, which can be achieved through 35 specific strategies. This action plan targets all stakeholders, including health institutions/units, policymakers/governments, international organizations, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society.
At present, WHO is beginning the process of preparing work plans for the WHO Patient Safety Flagship for the next biennium (2022-2023).
The Coordinator of the WHO Collaborating Centre, Prof. Paulo Sousa, will participate in the WHP Global Consultation – Partners in Action: Engaging Stakeholders for Implementing the Global Patient Safety Action Plan which took place on August 4-5, 2021.
World Patient Safety Day was first established in 2019 to raise awareness about the importance of patient safety and increase engagement from society and stakeholders in this area. This will be the third consecutive year of this campaign.
You can view all the campaigns here.
This year, World Patient Safety Day will focus on promoting global actions to increase maternal and neonatal safety – Act Now for Safe and Respectful Childbirth!
The NOVA National School of Public Health, as WHO Collaborating Center for Education, Research, and Evaluation of Safety and Quality in Healthcare, will once again celebrate this day with a public event.
World Patient Safety Day 2021 Goals:
For more information, click here.
The Collaborating Center is composed of a multidisciplinary team that includes professors, researchers, doctoral and master’s students, policymakers, and healthcare professionals from different levels of care.
Adalberto Campos Fernandes, Ana Beatriz Nunes, Andreia Leite, Carlos Palos, Maria João Lobão, Pedro Casaca, Sofia Guerra-Paiva.
Patrícia Sousa Paulo, Mafalda Fernandes, Ana Raquel Soares, Mariama Correia, Joana Estrada, Márcia Ribeiro, Blanca Romero.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Patient Safety as “the reduction of unnecessary risks associated with healthcare to an acceptable minimum.” Within the broader context of the healthcare system, it refers to “a set of organized activities that create cultures, processes, procedures, behaviors, technologies, and environments in healthcare that consistently and sustainably reduce risks, decrease the occurrence of avoidable harm, make errors less likely, and lessen the impact of harm when it occurs.”
According to the WHO’s Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030, failures in patient safety are recognized as a significant and growing global public health challenge, being one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide.
In high-income countries, it is estimated that, on average, one in every ten patients experiences an adverse event while receiving hospital care. The estimate for low- and middle-income countries suggests that up to one in every four patients is harmed, with 134 million adverse events occurring annually due to unsafe hospital care, contributing to about 2.6 million deaths. Most of these patient harms are preventable.
There have been several WHO campaigns on patient safety over the years, with initiatives in different areas of healthcare.
In 2005, the “Clean Care is Safer Care” campaign aimed to reduce healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) through promoting proper hand hygiene. (Launch of the Global Patient Safety Challenge: Clean Care is Safer Care)
In 2009, the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist was implemented, based on the “Safe Surgery Saves Lives” project, to improve safety in surgeries and reduce avoidable errors during procedures. (Safe Surgery)
In 2017, the “Global Patient Safety Challenge: Medication Without Harm” was launched, aiming to reduce severe and avoidable harm related to medication errors by half by 2022. (Medication Without Harm)
Indeed, medication-related harm affects 1 in every 30 patients in healthcare, with more than a quarter of these harms being considered severe or potentially fatal. Half of the preventable harm in healthcare is related to medication.
Medication errors are thus one of the main challenges in patient safety, with serious clinical, economic, and social consequences. Clinically, these errors can lead to severe adverse reactions, prolonged hospital stays, permanent disability, and even death. Economically, the direct and indirect costs are significant. Globally, the financial impact of medication errors can reach billions of dollars annually, including additional medical expenses, loss of productivity, and reduced economic growth. Furthermore, the social implications include a loss of trust in healthcare systems and severe emotional impacts on patients and their families.
Therefore, mitigating medication errors requires coordinated efforts to improve prescribing, administration, and monitoring, thereby reducing avoidable harm and its potentially serious consequences.
Considering the relevance of this issue, it is essential to explore clinical cases that illustrate these incidents, not only demonstrating the challenges faced in healthcare practices but also identifying the factors that contribute to these failures.
By analyzing real cases, we can draw important lessons on strategies to improve patient safety and reduce the incidence of errors.
In this section, we will present representative case studies that demonstrate medication errors, their consequences, and the interventions that led to significant improvements in clinical practice.
References:
