This year’s campaign highlights the need to protect the youngest from preventable harm in health care settings
Washington, D.C., September 16, 2025 (PAHO) – On the occasion of World Patient Safety Day 2025, observed on September 17, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) urges governments, health professionals, and communities across the Americas to prioritize safe and equitable care from the very beginning of life. Under the theme “Patient safety from the start!”, the campaign seeks to raise awareness and reduce risks associated with pediatric and neonatal medical care.
This year’s focus underscores the unique vulnerabilities of newborns and children, who face greater risks of harm in healthcare settings due to their rapid development, specific needs, and reliance on caregivers and health systems. It also emphasizes that a single error in medical care can have lifelong consequences for a child’s health and development.
“Every newborn and every child deserves safe, high-quality care from the very first moment of life,” said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO Director. “In our region, preventable errors such as mistakes with medications, misdiagnoses, or healthcare-associated infections threaten the future of the most vulnerable. This World Day is a call to close these gaps and strengthen the health systems that protect our children,” he added.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, in 2020, 8.9% of live births—more than 800,000 babies—were premature or small for their gestational age, facing increased risks of preventable conditions such as sepsis, congenital anomalies, and intrapartum complications. Neonatal mortality accounts for more than 50% of child deaths in the region, with prematurity and sepsis among the leading causes.
This reality requires around-the-clock hospital care, ongoing staff training, and active family involvement. Moreover, simple PAHO-promoted measures—such as handwashing, administration of antenatal steroids, and skin-to-skin contact (kangaroo method)—could prevent a significant proportion of deaths in premature babies.
At its 61st Directing Council, held in October 2024, PAHO adopted a resolution establishing the “Strategy and Plan of Action to reduce the burden of sepsis (2025–2029).” This regional roadmap includes key actions in awareness-raising, infection prevention (including vaccination), hospital hygiene, and equitable access to diagnosis and care, especially for vulnerable populations.
Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one in ten patients suffers harm in healthcare settings due to errors in medication prescribing, diagnosis, or healthcare-associated infections. These risks also affect children and newborns, who are particularly vulnerable. More than half of this harm is preventable.
Regional webinar and global campaign
To mark World Patient Safety Day, PAHO will hold a regional webinar on September 23 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT), with experts from Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, the United States, and Caribbean countries. The event will address best practices in child patient safety, digital health, neonatal sepsis prevention, and the role of parents as active partners in care. To register for the webinar, visit this page.
On September 17, iconic monuments around the world will light up in orange as a symbol of solidarity, representing a collective commitment to safe care from the very beginning of life. WHO will illuminate Geneva’s emblematic Jet d’Eau and invites communities to join this campaign.
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