WHO Calls for Safer Long-Term Care as Nigeria Highlights Patient Safety Risks for People Living With Chronic Diseases

By Simpson Global Media News Desk

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for stronger patient-safety measures for people living with noncommunicable diseases as Nigeria joins the global campaign to reduce avoidable harm across the long-term healthcare journey.

The call is being highlighted in Nigeria this week as health authorities and partners focus on the 2026 World Patient Safety Day theme, “Safe care for noncommunicable diseases,” with the slogan “Safe care for life!”

The campaign places particular attention on people living with conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases, whose treatment may involve years of consultations, medicines, diagnostic tests, referrals and follow-up care.

WHO's Nigeria office said on September 23 that safer care for people with noncommunicable diseases requires stronger health systems, better communication between health workers and patients, continuity of treatment and meaningful participation by patients in decisions concerning their care.

The emphasis represents a shift in how patient safety is discussed.

Patient safety is sometimes associated mainly with hospitals, surgery or emergency treatment. But for people living with chronic diseases, risks can accumulate over many years and across different parts of the health system.

A patient may be diagnosed at a primary healthcare centre, referred to a specialist hospital, obtain medicines from another facility and return to a different clinic for monitoring.

If information does not move with the patient, important details can be missed.

A medicine prescribed at one facility may not be known to another health worker.

A test result may not be available when a treatment decision is being made.

A patient may not fully understand why a medicine has been prescribed or when it should be taken.

A follow-up appointment may be missed because of cost, distance or communication problems.

Each gap can increase the possibility of avoidable harm.

WHO's 2026 campaign is therefore asking governments and health systems to consider safety throughout the entire continuum of care rather than treating it as a single hospital-based issue.

Nigeria puts chronic disease safety under the spotlight

The message has particular relevance for Nigeria, where hypertension and other noncommunicable diseases are becoming increasingly important parts of the country's health burden.

According to WHO's Nigeria office, an estimated 30 to 40 per cent of Nigerian adults aged 30 to 79 live with hypertension.

WHO also says many people remain undiagnosed, untreated or unable to maintain controlled blood pressure, creating a need not only to expand diagnosis and treatment but also to ensure that the care provided is safe and coordinated.

The figures help explain why patient safety is being discussed alongside access to care.

Finding more people with hypertension is important, but diagnosis by itself does not resolve the problem.

Patients need appropriate treatment.

They need medicines that are correctly prescribed and dispensed.

They need to understand how and when to take those medicines.

They need blood-pressure monitoring and follow-up.

They need health workers to know their medical history.

And when complications develop, they need timely referral.

The same principle applies to diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular disease.

The longer a patient interacts with the health system, the more opportunities exist for communication failures, medication errors, diagnostic delays or fragmented treatment to occur.

WHO says people living with noncommunicable diseases are particularly vulnerable to harm because of the long-term and complex nature of their conditions and their repeated interaction with healthcare systems.

The 2026 patient-safety campaign

World Patient Safety Day is observed annually on September 17.

The World Health Assembly established the observance in 2019 through resolution WHA72.6, recognising patient safety as a global health priority.

WHO says the campaign is designed to increase awareness, engage patients and health workers, and encourage action to reduce preventable harm in healthcare.

For 2026, WHO selected noncommunicable diseases because of their enormous global impact.

The organisation says NCDs account for around 74 per cent of deaths worldwide and include cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.

WHO estimates that around one in 10 patients experiences harm while receiving healthcare globally, with approximately half of that harm considered preventable.

For people with NCDs, the repeated nature of care can increase exposure to safety risks.

The campaign therefore calls for safer systems from prevention and early detection through diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, self-care and, where appropriate, palliative care.

The central message is that safety cannot be separated from quality of care.

A health system that successfully diagnoses a condition but fails to ensure appropriate follow-up has not fully addressed the patient's needs.

Similarly, making medicines available does not guarantee safe treatment if patients are not given adequate information about dosage, interactions, side effects or warning signs.

Why long-term conditions create special risks

Chronic diseases are different from many short-term illnesses because treatment can continue for years.

A person with hypertension may require lifelong monitoring.

A person with diabetes may need regular laboratory tests, medication adjustments, dietary support and monitoring for complications.

Cancer patients may undergo multiple rounds of diagnosis and treatment involving different specialists.

People with chronic respiratory diseases may need medicines, devices, education and follow-up over extended periods.

These repeated interactions create a complicated chain of care.

WHO says safety risks can arise at virtually every stage.

They can occur during screening.

They can occur when a diagnosis is being made.

They can arise when medicines are prescribed.

They can appear when patients move between facilities.

They can emerge when treatment is changed.

They can also arise when patients manage their conditions at home.

The organisation specifically identifies diagnostic delays, medication errors, healthcare-associated infections and unsafe use of medical devices among potential sources of preventable harm.

The risks become more complicated when a person has more than one chronic disease.

A patient may have hypertension and diabetes, for example, or cancer alongside another long-term condition.

Multiple medicines may then be required.

Different doctors may become involved.

The patient's treatment plan may change repeatedly.

Without effective communication, there is a possibility of duplicated treatment, conflicting instructions or missed information.

WHO's Nigeria office said changes made at one facility may not always be reflected elsewhere, particularly where patients receive care from multiple providers.

Communication is a patient-safety tool

One of the strongest messages emerging from the 2026 campaign is the importance of communication.

Patient safety is not only about medical equipment, hospital buildings or clinical protocols.

It also depends on whether patients understand what is happening to them.

A patient who knows the name and purpose of a medicine is better positioned to identify a problem.

A patient who understands when to return for review is more likely to maintain continuity of care.

A patient who knows which symptoms require urgent attention can seek help earlier.

A patient who is encouraged to ask questions can alert health workers when instructions are unclear.

WHO's global campaign explicitly calls for people living with NCDs to become partners in safe care and encourages meaningful engagement, health literacy and shared decision-making.

This does not mean transferring responsibility for the healthcare system to patients.

Health workers and institutions remain responsible for providing appropriate and safe care.

Instead, the approach recognises that patients possess information about their own symptoms, medicines, experiences and barriers that can contribute to safer decision-making when properly incorporated into care.

Pate: moving from reporting to learning

Nigeria's Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, used the country's World Patient Safety Day observance to emphasise continuity of care and patient participation.

Pate said patient safety requires continuity of care, meaningful engagement of patients and families, and mutual respect between health workers, patients and relatives.

He also called for a shift from commitments to action, from reporting to learning and from learning to sustained improvement in healthcare quality.

That approach places learning at the centre of safety.

When an error, near miss or unexpected adverse event occurs, the objective of a mature patient-safety system is not simply to identify an individual to blame.

It is also to understand why the event occurred.

Was information missing?

Was a medicine incorrectly labelled?

Was the patient's history unavailable?

Was a clinical protocol unclear?

Was the health worker working under excessive pressure?

Was equipment unavailable?

Did the patient receive instructions that were difficult to understand?

Did the system provide a mechanism for follow-up?

Answering those questions can help institutions reduce the likelihood of similar incidents occurring again.

WHO says health facilities should foster an environment in which incidents and near misses can be reported and used for learning and improvement rather than blame.

Building stronger primary healthcare systems

The patient-safety campaign also places considerable emphasis on primary healthcare.

For many Nigerians with chronic conditions, primary healthcare centres are likely to be the first point of contact for screening, diagnosis, treatment or routine monitoring.

A strong primary healthcare system can identify risk factors early and maintain continuity of treatment.

It can monitor blood pressure.

It can support diabetes management.

It can provide health education.

It can identify warning signs.

And it can refer patients to higher-level facilities when specialist care is required.

WHO's global campaign calls for patient safety principles to be integrated into NCD programmes through primary healthcare-oriented systems.

This is particularly important in a country as geographically large and socially diverse as Nigeria.

Specialist hospitals are concentrated in major urban centres.

Millions of people live far from tertiary facilities.

A healthcare system that depends excessively on specialist hospitals can leave patients facing long journeys and significant expenses for routine care.

Primary healthcare can bring more of that care closer to communities.

But proximity alone is insufficient.

Facilities must have trained staff, reliable medicines, diagnostic capacity, referral systems and mechanisms for maintaining patient information.

The cost of fragmented care

Unsafe care can create costs for patients as well as healthcare institutions.

When a patient receives incomplete or inappropriate treatment, the illness may worsen.

Additional consultations may become necessary.

Additional diagnostic tests may be ordered.

Hospitalisation may be required.

Patients may lose working days.

Families may have to spend more money on transport, medicines and treatment.

WHO notes that patient harm imposes a substantial burden on health systems and societies, with preventable harm contributing to lost health, productivity and economic resources.

The financial implications are especially relevant in Nigeria, where out-of-pocket spending remains a major component of healthcare financing.

A recent Commonwealth Fund profile of Nigeria's health system reported that out-of-pocket spending accounted for about 70.94 per cent of health expenditure in 2023.

For households paying directly for treatment, preventable complications can have consequences beyond the clinical problem itself.

A medication error, delayed diagnosis or unnecessary repeat investigation may translate into additional expenses.

That makes patient safety part of financial protection as well as clinical quality.

Health insurance and the safety conversation

Nigeria's expanding health insurance system is another part of the broader healthcare reform landscape.

The National Health Insurance Authority said in September that more than 23 million Nigerians had been enrolled in the national health insurance system.

The authority has also expanded financial protection for cancer patients and people receiving treatment for HIV and tuberculosis, while reporting interventions covering pregnant women and newborns.

The expansion is significant because access to treatment and financial protection are closely connected.

However, insurance coverage alone does not guarantee patient safety.

An insured patient still needs access to appropriately trained health workers, safe medicines, accurate diagnosis and coordinated follow-up.

This is why WHO's campaign treats safety as an integral part of universal health coverage rather than a separate programme.

Coverage should mean more than the ability to enter a healthcare facility.

It should also mean receiving appropriate care without avoidable harm.

Medication safety

Medicines are among the most important tools in the management of chronic diseases, but they can also become a source of harm if used incorrectly.

WHO identifies medication errors as an important patient-safety concern.

For people with long-term conditions, the risk can be magnified because treatment may involve several medicines taken at different times and for different purposes.

Patients can misunderstand instructions.

Prescriptions can change.

Medicines with similar names can cause confusion.

A patient can accidentally continue an old prescription after receiving a new one.

A medicine can interact with another drug.

Or treatment can be interrupted because of cost or availability.

The solution involves multiple actors.

Clinicians must prescribe appropriately.

Pharmacists and other dispensers must provide correct medicines and instructions.

Health facilities need systems for medication reconciliation and documentation.

Patients need understandable information.

Family members and caregivers may also play an important role, particularly where illness affects an individual's ability to manage treatment independently.

WHO's 2026 campaign specifically calls for safer diagnosis, medication safety and meaningful patient engagement as key components of safer NCD care.

Cancer illustrates the complexity

Cancer is one of the clearest examples of why patient safety becomes more complex during prolonged treatment.

Patients may undergo screening, biopsy, imaging, diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, medication and repeated monitoring.

Several specialists may participate in a single patient's treatment.

The consequences of a communication failure can therefore be significant.

WHO says that in some conditions, including cancer, as many as one in three patients may experience an adverse event during care.

The figure is global and should not be interpreted as a Nigeria-specific cancer rate.

It nevertheless illustrates the safety challenge created by complex, repeated interactions with health services.

The Nigerian government and NHIA have been expanding financial protection for cancer care.

The NHIA recently reported a cost-sharing arrangement for selected oncology medicines in which Roche covers 50 per cent of the cost, NHIA covers 30 per cent and patients pay 20 per cent.

The authority also reported financial support for radiotherapy and coverage for diagnostic services including mammography, CT and MRI scans for eligible patients.

As access expands, ensuring that those services are delivered safely becomes increasingly important.

Hypertension and the everyday healthcare journey

Hypertension demonstrates another dimension of patient safety because many people can live with the condition for years without obvious symptoms.

A person may discover elevated blood pressure during a routine screening.

Treatment may then begin.

But maintaining control requires continued monitoring.

The patient may feel well and therefore stop taking medication.

The medicine may cause side effects.

A patient may switch facilities.

A new health worker may not have access to the previous records.

A medicine may become unavailable.

Each event can affect treatment continuity.

WHO's Nigeria office said that expanding access to diagnosis and treatment must therefore be accompanied by measures to ensure safety throughout the patient's journey.

This is one reason patient engagement is so important.

Patients need to understand that chronic disease management does not necessarily end when symptoms disappear.

They also need realistic information about lifestyle, medicines, monitoring and follow-up.

Health workers, meanwhile, need systems that make continuity possible.

The importance of reliable health records

One practical solution to fragmented care is better management of patient information.

When a patient moves between facilities, clinicians need access to relevant medical history.

That can include previous diagnoses, laboratory results, medicines, allergies, procedures and treatment changes.

Without adequate records, healthcare workers may have to rely on incomplete patient recollection or repeat investigations.

Digital health systems can help, but technology is not automatically a solution.

Systems must be interoperable.

Data must be accurate.

Patients' information must be protected.

Health workers must be trained.

Facilities must have reliable connectivity and infrastructure where digital systems depend on it.

WHO's patient-safety framework emphasises policies, organisational leadership, data, skilled healthcare professionals and patient involvement as important components of sustainable safety improvements.

Nigeria's ongoing digital-health reforms therefore have potential patient-safety implications if they improve continuity of information between levels of care.

Supporting the health workforce

Patient safety also depends heavily on health workers.

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, radiographers and other professionals work at the point where many safety decisions are made.

They need appropriate training, clear protocols, functioning equipment and manageable workloads.

They also need environments where reporting an error or near miss can lead to improvement rather than automatic punishment.

WHO says a supported health workforce is essential for safe NCD care and that health workers need the knowledge, tools, resources and working conditions required to provide safe care.

This is particularly important in health systems experiencing workforce shortages or uneven distribution of personnel.

A facility can have an excellent safety policy on paper but struggle to implement it if staff numbers are insufficient or if workers lack the resources required to follow the policy.

Patient safety must therefore be considered alongside workforce planning.

What safer care could look like for patients

For a person living with a chronic disease, safer care can involve relatively simple but important practices.

A patient should know what condition they are being treated for.

They should understand their medicines and how to use them.

They should know when follow-up is required.

They should have an opportunity to ask questions.

Their relevant medical history should be available to the health workers caring for them.

When treatment changes, the change should be clearly communicated.

When they are referred to another facility, information should accompany the referral.

When a serious warning sign appears, the patient should know where to seek urgent assistance.

At facility level, safety can involve medication checks, accurate patient identification, clear communication, infection-prevention procedures, diagnostic safeguards and mechanisms for reporting and learning from adverse events.

WHO's 2026 goals are designed to help health facilities and healthcare organisations translate these principles into practical improvements at the point of care.

Patients as partners

A central element of this year's campaign is the recognition that patients themselves can contribute to safer healthcare.

WHO says people living with NCDs should be partners in their care and that their experiences should help shape health services.

This approach has implications for both individuals and institutions.

For patients, it means asking questions, keeping track of medicines, communicating changes in symptoms and speaking up when instructions are unclear.

For health workers, it means listening to patients and ensuring that explanations are understandable.

For policymakers, it means incorporating patient experiences into the design and evaluation of healthcare programmes.

Patient participation can also help identify problems that statistics alone may miss.

A patient may notice that appointment instructions are confusing.

A caregiver may identify repeated difficulties in obtaining medicines.

A person receiving long-term treatment may know that a referral process consistently results in delays.

Such experiences can provide valuable information for improving services.

From a campaign to a system

World Patient Safety Day is observed on a specific date, but the challenge it addresses is continuous.

WHO's broader patient-safety strategy runs through 2030.

The organisation established a global patient-safety action framework after the World Health Assembly recognised patient safety as a global priority.

For Nigeria, the significance of the 2026 campaign will therefore depend on whether its messages become part of routine healthcare practice.

That means integrating patient-safety principles into NCD policies.

It means strengthening primary healthcare.

It means improving referral and communication systems.

It means supporting health workers.

It means expanding reliable health information.

It means ensuring that patients and families can participate meaningfully in care.

And it means creating mechanisms through which adverse events and near misses can be studied and used to improve services.

Nigeria's broader health reforms

The patient-safety focus arrives as Nigeria continues to make changes across the health sector.

The NHIA has been expanding coverage.

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has been promoting health-system reforms.

The government has also introduced Health Technology Assessment as a mechanism for guiding decisions about healthcare coverage, reimbursement, pricing and allocation of limited resources.

Health Technology Assessment is primarily about determining the value and evidence behind health interventions.

Patient safety adds another dimension: whether an intervention can be delivered safely and consistently to patients.

Together, evidence-based resource allocation and patient-safety systems can support a health system that considers not only what treatments are available, but also how effectively and safely they are delivered.

The road ahead

For Nigeria, the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases means that the patient-safety conversation is unlikely to disappear after World Patient Safety Day.

Hypertension, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory illnesses require sustained care.

As more people are diagnosed and live longer with chronic conditions, the health system will need to manage larger numbers of patients over longer periods.

That makes continuity increasingly important.

A health system designed mainly around acute episodes may struggle to meet the needs of people who require years of monitoring.

The shift toward chronic-disease care therefore requires corresponding changes in how health services are organised.

Primary healthcare must be able to provide routine follow-up.

Specialist facilities must receive effective referrals.

Laboratories and diagnostic services must provide reliable results.

Pharmacies must support safe medicine use.

Health records must follow patients appropriately.

Insurance mechanisms must reduce financial barriers.

And patients must be treated as participants in their own care.

A safety message beyond September

The WHO's 2026 slogan, “Safe care for life!”, captures the central issue facing people with chronic diseases.

For someone living with hypertension, diabetes, cancer or another NCD, healthcare is rarely a single event.

It is a continuing relationship with a system.

The quality of that relationship can affect whether the patient understands treatment, receives the right medicines, obtains appropriate follow-up and gets timely help when circumstances change.

In Nigeria, WHO's current warning about hypertension illustrates the scale of the challenge.

An estimated 30 to 40 per cent of adults aged 30 to 79 are living with the condition, while many remain undiagnosed, untreated or uncontrolled.

The response therefore cannot be limited to finding more cases.

It must also ensure that people who enter care are protected from avoidable harm.

That requires safer diagnosis, clearer communication, better continuity, stronger health records, appropriate medicines, trained health workers and active patient participation.

As Nigeria expands access to treatment and insurance, those safeguards will become increasingly important.

The central lesson of World Patient Safety Day 2026 is that access and safety must move together.

A patient should not have to choose between reaching care and receiving safe care.

For people living with chronic diseases, that principle applies not only at the hospital door but throughout the years of treatment that follow.

By Simpson Global Media News Desk