OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The Patient Safety Flagship (PSF) sits within the Integrated Health Services (IHS) department in the Division of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Life Course. WHO supports countries to strengthen their health systems to progress towards achieving UHC. The overall objective of WHO Division of UHC through the life-course is to provide global policy, programme, and technical and scientific leadership for UHC and primary health care, working in close partnership with WHO regional and country offices and other partners, and work towards the ultimate goal of an additional 1 billion people receiving UHC. Patient safety is fundamental to strengthening of health care systems and is at the heart of UHC. Expanding coverage of and increasing access to health care should be based on the fundamental principle of first do no harm.The mission of Integrated Health Services is to:

• support countries to provide equitable access to integrated health services (including promotion, prevention, curative, rehabilitative and palliative);
• develop health services that ensure patient safety, quality, integration, effectiveness, and people-centredness, and
• strengthen country capacity to assess and monitor the performance of health services.

Patient harm due to adverse events has been recognized as one of the ten leading causes of morbidity and mortality globally, even more significant than malaria and tuberculosis and comparable to HIV. Recognition of unsafe care as a grave global public health concern has led to intense international political advocacy, particularly through the annual Global Ministerial Summits on Patient Safety since 2016. This unprecedented global momentum on patient safety led to the recognition of Patient safety as a global health priority by the 72nd World Health Assembly in May 2019, including the adoption of WHA72.6 resolution Global action on patient safety and the establishment of World Patient Safety Day as an official WHO day to be observed annually on 17 September. Aligned with the global agenda for achieving SDGs by 2030, WHO has established a Flagship Initiative A Decade of Patient Safety 2020-2030 to address global call and support strategic actions in the area of patient safety to:

• Provide leadership and support to the implementation of WHA72.6 resolution, through Global Patient Safety Action Plan;
• Contribute to set global patient safety priorities, design and implement Global Patient Safety Challenges, including the 3rd Challenge on Medication Without Harm;
• Provide strategic advice and guidance in formulating patient safety policy, legislation, strategies and plans;
• Facilitate global advocacy through commemoration and campaigns for World Patient Safety Day annually on 17 September;
• Build patient safety leadership competencies and human resource capacity through patient safety education and training, and development of curricula and other technical resources;
• Strengthen collaboration and building strategic partnerships through the WHO Global Patient Safety Network and Global Knowledge Sharing Platform;
• Develop technical resources and tools in the area of patient safety;
• Accelerate country support and capacity building through Global Patient Safety Collaborative,
• Engage and empower patients and families through Patients for Patient Safety initiative, and build the capacity of patient safety advocates from patients’ organizations;
• Improve patient safety metrics through the development of standards, indicators, data collection tools, and assessments;
• Facilitate the definition of research priorities, promoting implementation research and supporting digital and innovative approaches to ensuring patient safety; and
• Provide strategic support to establish and implement incident reporting and learning, and surveillance systems.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

This position is envisioned to contribute significantly to the WHO Flagship A Decade of Patient Safety 2020-2030 through strengthening WHO global efforts on patient safety, reduction of harm in health care and development of health services which ensure safe patient care. The initial focus is on formulating and implementing the Global Patient Safety Action Plan and supporting Member States in their efforts to improve patient safety and recognizing patient safety as a health priority in health sector policies and programmes, making it an essential component for strengthening health care systems to achieve UHC. While working with counterparts inMember States, international organizations and other relevant stakeholders, and WHO regional and country offices, and relevant programmes within WHO-headquarters, the specific terms of reference for this position include the following:

• Formulate, and support implementation and monitoring of the Global Patient Safety Action Plan;
• Promote World Patient Safety Day, the Know. Check. Ask campaign for medication safety and other related global advocacy campaigns, and provide technical advice and guidance into the development of global campaigns, including the theme, slogan, and technical and communication materials for World Patient Safety Days;
• Participate in expanding, strengthening and building strong collaboration, partnerships and networks for patient safety and engage with key stakeholders to develop technical relationships at global, regional and national levels, including patients’ networks;
• Build institutional and human resource capacity for developing systems for safe patient care;
• Put into place systems to support the active engagement, participation and empowerment of patients and families in the delivery of safer health care
• Perform all other related duties as assigned.