World Patient Safety Day 2026

Theme: Safe care for noncommunicable diseases

Rooted in a key principle of medicine – “First, do no harm” – World Patient Safety Day aims to increase public awareness and engagement, enhance global understanding and drive global action to improve patient safety.

This year’s World Patient Safety Day theme is “Safe care for noncommunicable diseases”, with the slogan “Safe care for life!”, calling for coordinated action to keep people living with NCDs safe wherever and whenever they receive care.

Noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer account for three in four (74%) deaths worldwide. People living with NCDs face particular risks of harm due to their long-term and repeated contact with health systems.

In the Western Pacific Region, this burden is even higher: NCDs account for nearly nine in 10 deaths. Health systems and health workers play a critical role in keeping people with NCDs safe through their care journey – from diagnosis through years of treatment and monitoring.

The World Health Organization (WHO) calls on health practitioners, health-care leaders, policy-makers and communities to strengthen primary health care, support health workers and engage people living with NCDs as partners in their own safety.

Campaign objectives

• Raise awareness of the safety risks people with NCDs face across the continuum of care, from prevention and diagnosis to long-term treatment and monitoring.
• Promote meaningful engagement of people living with NCDs in identifying risks and shaping solutions alongside health workers and policy-makers.
• Encourage governments and health leaders to embed patient safety into NCD-related legislation, policies and programmes, anchored in primary health care.
• Support health workers in strengthening safety practices, including safer diagnosis and medication safety.

Spread the word: Key messages and calls to action

Access campaign tools

Message from Dr Saia Ma'u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific