Each year on World Patient Safety Day, the global health community pauses to examine how care systems can do better, particularly for the most vulnerable. In 2025, the focus is on “Patient safety from the start“, with a call to action to improve outcomes for children from birth to age nine.

Unlike adults, children have distinct needs that make them more susceptible to risks in clinical settings. Yet too often, they’re treated in systems not designed for their safety. From inappropriate medication dosing to communication breakdowns, the vulnerabilities are real and preventable.

A persistent global challenge

More than one in ten patients worldwide are harmed during hospital care. In lower-income settings, unsafe medical practices result in 134 million adverse events annually, costing healthcare systems over US$176 billion. For children, the risks are especially acute:

  • Medication errors are up to 3x more likely in children than adults
  • Infections spread more easily, especially in neonatal and paediatric intensive care
  • Critical warning signs can be missed without integrated data and clear communication

Behind these statistics are real human stories—families blindsided by preventable events, and clinicians working in overburdened systems without the right tools or data to act early.

Safer systems deliver better outcomes

There is hope. Countries that embed patient safety into the foundations of their health systems report up to 30% fewer medical errors, alongside reductions in cost and length of stay. Crucially, these improvements are not the result of radical reinvention; they come from better coordination, earlier detection, and targeted action.

Technology’s role in safer paediatric care

While technology alone isn’t the answer, it’s becoming a critical enabler in reducing harm and improving outcomes.

Recent breakthroughs include:

  • AI models detecting childhood cancers with over 90% accuracy
  • Sepsis prediction tools that flag high-risk patients up to 8 hours earlier
  • Neonatal AI systems identifying acute kidney injury 30 hours sooner, reducing harmful drug exposure by half.

These aren’t hypothetical; they’re real-world examples of how better data and timely insights are helping clinicians intervene earlier and more effectively.

Bridging the gap between innovation and impact

Despite these advances, many health systems struggle to implement them at scale. A 2025 WHO survey found that only 27% of patient safety standards are currently being met across global healthcare settings.

Why the gap? Common challenges include:

  • Fragmented or outdated IT infrastructure
  • Limited integration of digital tools into clinical workflows
  • Uneven staff training and adoption
  • Lack of systemic alignment between providers, payers, and policy

True improvement requires more than pilot programmes. It demands clinical, operational, and political leadership to build the conditions for safety to thrive.

What’s needed now: system-level change

To meaningfully protect paediatric patients, health systems must embed safety into the fabric of care delivery. That includes:

  • Unified, accessible health records that reduce duplication and delays
  • Streamlined care coordination across primary, acute, and community services
  • Family and caregiver engagement tools that empower people with timely information
  • Data-driven insights that predict risk and inform proactive interventions

As pressure on healthcare systems continues to mount, the opportunity is clear: preventing harm is not just safer, it’s smarter, more sustainable care.

How can Orion Health help?

As a long-standing partner to health systems worldwide, Orion Health focuses on enabling safer care through smarter data and connected systems. Our platforms support:

  • Unified patient records to minimise medication and diagnostic errors
  • Intelligent referral workflows that reduce delays in paediatric handovers
  • Family engagement tools to empower caregivers with timely, accessible health information

And with HEALWELL AI, we continue to explore how AI can augment safety, from early detection to personalised risk prediction. For us, prevention is putting the right insight in the right hands, before harm occurs.

Learn more about Orion Health’s Amadeus solution here

A final thought

World Patient Safety Day is a moment to reflect and prompt action. The future of paediatric safety won’t be delivered by technology alone but by systems that are willing to learn, adapt, and lead.

Whether through government mandates, clinical innovation, or partnerships across the ecosystem, the goal is the same: safer care for every child, everywhere.

References

Feng, Zhi, Annabelle Y. Choi, and Martin J. Brophy. 2024. “Artificial Intelligence in Paediatric Chronic Disease Care: A Systematic Review.” European Journal of Pediatrics. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00431-024-05846-3.

Goh, K. H., Wang, L., Yeow, A. Y. K., Poh, H., Li, K., Yeow, J. J. L., & Tan, G. Y. H. (2021). Artificial intelligence in sepsis early prediction and diagnosis using unstructured data in healthcare. Nature Communications, 12, 711. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-20910-4

Hashem, H., & Sultan, I. (2025). Revolutionizing precision oncology: The role of artificial intelligence in personalized pediatric cancer care. Frontiers in Medicine, 12, 1555893. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2025.1555893

Huang, Lily, et al. 2025. “Clinical Readiness of Artificial Intelligence in Paediatrics: A Global Review.” Pediatric Research. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41372-025-02284-3.pdf

Kandasamy, Y., & Baker, S. (2023). An exploratory review on the potential of artificial intelligence for early detection of acute kidney injury in preterm neonates. Diagnostics, 13(18), Article 2865. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13182865

Marufu, T. C., Bower, R., Hendron, E., & Manning, J. C. (2022). Nursing interventions to reduce medication errors in paediatrics and neonates: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 62, e139–e147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2021.08.024

World Health Organization. (2024). Global patient safety observatory: Patient safety action plan core indicators, aggregate of survey response score. Global Health Observatory. https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/global-patient-safety-observatory

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Medication Without Harm. https://www.who.int/initiatives/medication-without-harm

World Health Organization. 2025. World Patient Safety Day 2025 – Patient Safety from the Start. Geneva: World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2025/09/17/default-calendar/world-patient-safety-day–17-september-2025–patient-safety-from-the-start.

World Health Organization. 2024. Patient Safety Fact Sheet. Geneva: World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/patient-safety.

World Health Organization. 2024. Global Patient Safety Report 2024. Geneva: World Health Organization. Summary available via Patient Safety Learning Hub. https://www.pslhub.org/learn/organisations-linked-to-patient-safety-uk-and-beyond/international-patient-safety/who/who-global-patient-safety-report-2024-30-may-2024-r11552.