Safe Care for Every Newborn and Every Child

Every year on 17 September, the world pauses to reflect on something vital in healthcare — safety. This is World Patient Safety Day (WPSD), a day to raise awareness, call for action, and strengthen efforts to prevent harm to patients. In 2025, the theme holds special weight: “Safe care for every newborn and every child”, with the slogan “Patient safety from the start!” [1]

What’s the 2025 Theme About?

The World Health Organization’s official theme for 2025 highlights that:

• From birth to nine years old, children are especially vulnerable to harm in healthcare. Their bodies, physiology, and needs are different. They are not “small adults.” [2]
• Risks in neonatal and paediatric care are high: medication errors, infections, diagnostic delays, surgical complications, misuse of medical devices, and failure to detect deterioration early. Many of these adverse events are preventable.
• The call is global: health systems, governments, caregivers, clinicians, and families all must commit to safety “from the start”—meaning systems and practices that protect children from day one.

The Global State of Patient Safety

To understand why this is urgent, consider some key data:

• Roughly 1 in 10 patients globally experience harm during healthcare — and over 3 million deaths per year are linked to unsafe care.
• In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), hospitalised patients are at especially high risk: over 134 million adverse events occur annually, resulting in around 2.6 million deaths.
• Medication errors are among the most common sources of preventable harm. Diagnostic delays, infections acquired in healthcare settings, and failure to correctly monitor or intervene are also major problems. [3]

Why Newborns & Children Deserve Special Focus

• Their organs and immune systems are developing, which means they react differently to treatments, medications, and interventions. Dosage errors, equipment calibrated for adults, and procedural protocols not designed for children all contribute to risk. World Health Organization
• Communication and consent: infants cannot express discomfort; young children may not be able to articulate symptoms or side effects. Parents or caregivers must be especially vigilant and informed.
• Early harm can have lifelong consequences—neurodevelopmental, physical, or psychological—making prevention in early life even more critical.

What “Patient Safety from the Start!” Means in Practice

To translate this theme into real healthcare improvements, several strategies are emphasized:

1. Strengthen systems and protocols specifically tailored for paediatric/newborn care: safe drug dosage, neonatal resuscitation checks, hygiene for neonatal units.
2. Training and staffing: Ensure that health workers servicing children are well trained, well resourced, and supported to report errors without blame. [4]
3. Engage parents/caregivers: Educate them about what to expect (e.g. signs of infection, correct drug administration, safe practices), encourage them to ask questions and be part of safety checks.
4. Research & data: More studies focused on where harm happens in children (e.g. neonatal ICUs, surgical theatres for kids), what preventative interventions work, and measurement of safety indicators in paediatric settings.
5. Global & policy support: Governments, international bodies, hospitals all must commit funding and priority to safety from first contact and every stage of care.

Challenges on the Path

• Resource limitations: many regions have hospitals with insufficient staffing, inadequate training facilities, or suboptimal infrastructure, which magnifies risks.
• Cultural or systemic hesitancy to report errors or harm, due to fear of blame or legal consequences. This limits learning from mistakes.
• Inconsistent protocols: what works in one health system (e.g., neonatal safety bundles) may not be adapted or scaled to others.
• Lack of awareness among parents or caregivers about safety rights, warning signs, or how to engage with health providers.

Inspiring Thought: A Vision for Safe Beginnings

“From the moment of first breath, every child deserves care that is gentle, informed, and safe. Not because we can afford it, but because it is the very foundation of a just society.”

Imagine a world where a newborn in a remote village receives the same safety checks, the same hygiene, the same dose-care, and respectful attention that any baby in a city hospital would. Imagine parents being empowered to ask questions without hesitation, health workers who are trained and supported, and systems that learn from every mistake—not conceal them.

What Can You, as a Reader, Do?

• If you are a caregiver or parent: learn the basic warning signs (infection, unusual breathing, pain), speak up during hospital visits, ask for clarification if unsure.
• If you are a health worker: prioritize transparent reporting, follow safety protocols, advocate for child-specific safety resources.
• If you are a policymaker or organization: invest in safety training, pediatric-appropriate equipment, monitoring systems, and engage community voices.

World Patient Safety Day 2025 is not just a date—it’s a call to action. “Patient safety from the start!” isn’t a slogan. It’s a mandate to ensure every newborn, every child, receives safe, respectful, high-quality care from their very first moments. If we commit to this, the benefits ripple across lifetimes—less suffering, fewer preventable harms, and healthier, safer futures.