Health workforce safety is patient safety
Geneva, Switzerland, 3 April 2025—Leaders of WHPA member organizations at the 7th Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety have stressed how health workforce shortages put patients’ safety at risk. The Summit takes place in Manila, Philippines on 3-4 April 2025.
The World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA) member organizations are represented at the Summit by the President of the World Medical Association (WMA), Ashok Philip, and CEO of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), Howard Catton. FIP (International Pharmaceutical Federation) is featured at the Summit via a video being shown between sessions. Ahead of the meeting, experts from WMA and ICN have been active on the steering committee shaping the Summit.
“Staff shortages present a serious threat to the safety and quality of health care. WHO’s figures presented at the Executive Board in February this year show that progress on reducing global shortages is slowing down, and the numbers remain alarmingly high. To improve patient safety, WHPA calls on Ministers at the Summit to invest in health professionals and provide them with safe and decent working conditions. There is no patient safety without health workforce safety,” said WHPA Chair and Secretary General of WMA, Otmar Kloiber.
At the Summit, WHPA members will focus on Creating Psychologically Safe and Healthy Workplaces, with Mr Catton moderating a parallel session in which Dr Philip is an expert speaker. The topic resonates with WHPA’s campaign for positive practice environments[1], which are health care settings that support excellence and decent work conditions, and therefore have the power to attract and retain staff, provide quality patient care and strengthen the health sector as a whole.
The 7th Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety, convened by WHO, is a rare opportunity for international experts to engage with Ministers of Health and other high-ranking political decision makers and health-care leaders for effective collaboration between countries on patient safety. It supports WHO’s Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030 and highlights the current progress and monitoring of its strategic plans.
Note for Editors
The World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA) brings together the global organizations representing the world’s dentists, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and physicians and speaks for over 41 million health care professionals in more than 130 countries. The WHPA works to improve global health and the quality of patient care and facilitates collaboration among the health professions and major stakeholders. www.whpa.org
[1] https://www.whpa.org/activities/positive-practice-environments
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