• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • New York #GlobalDev Week

    NGO to aid community: Prioritize preventable hospital deaths

    Despite progress in healthcare, the number of preventable hospital deaths in the world remain high. A U.S.-based NGO tells Devex how the aid community can help put a solution to this problem and committed at CGI to zero preventable hospital deaths by 2020.

    By Lean Alfred Santos // 27 September 2013
    A hospital ward in Bharatpur, India. More people die in hospital from causes related to improper health services, equipment and attention than AIDS and traffic accidents. Photo by: ianandvale / CC BY-NC-ND

    Around 3 million people die each year — more than from AIDS and traffic accidents — in hospitals from causes related to improper health services, equipment and attention.

    That’s alarming because all those deaths are fully preventable, according to the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit that is trying to develop an innovative, multi-stakeholder approach to transform the process of healthcare and on Tuesday committed at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York to zero preventable hospital deaths by 2020.

    “The extremely important issue of preventable hospital deaths is definitely a global issue — an estimated 3 million people in hospitals are dying unnecessarily,” Joe Kiani, the group’s founder, told Devex. He added that over the past few years, improvements in achieving unified healthcare have been significant, but a long-term commitment in making sure health is sustainable remains a challenge.

    So how can development organizations help? By persuading governments to make preventable health diseases a priority in their national policies.

    “They can play a significant role. It starts by making preventable hospital deaths a priority,” explained Kiani. “If governments and the aid community make it a requirement for hospitals to implement evidence-based practices in order to provide aid, then those involved will make it a priority.”

    Currently, hospital acquired infection is the number one cause of hospital deaths, something lamentable given hospitals should cure diseases and not aggravate the patient’s situation, according to the organization. In the case of countries where healthcare is not a top priority, the situation is drastic, and even decent medical facilities are lacking, education and awareness is most needed.

    “Access to the right tools and technology is an important factor but when it is not there yet, then educating those in simple things like the proper hand washing technique and the importance of not transferring bacteria on your clothing will make a huge difference,” Kiani said.

    Challenges

    Eliminating preventable hospital deaths, as a multidimensional issue, still faces several obstacles, as healthcare is more than just building hospitals and handing out medicines to patients.

    Kiani noted the current challenges hounding the fight against preventable health diseases include failure to rescue due to delayed recognition of the patient’s complications, as well as medication errors where patients are given inaccurate or incomplete treatment. Other problems are hospital infections, incompetency of medical practitioners, lack of updated and effective technological facilities and a glaring information gap.

    Kiani indicated that bridging this information gap is one of the most important steps towards putting everything into place, which is why medical companies, private firms and governments should all do their part in creating this much needed “patient data superhighway.”

    “The gap will be bridged once the leaders of medical technology companies, hospitals, and other areas in our healthcare ecosystem realize that to share data is to save lives,” he said. “We also think that governments around the globe can create incentives for sharing data.”

    But ultimately, solving these challenges in all fronts — not just the information gap — is necessary if a unified healthcare system is to be achieved.

    “We believe the goal of the new millennium isn’t simply to give people access to healthcare, but to give them access to healthcare system that guarantees patient safety and patient dignity,” concluded Kiani.

    You can follow Devex on Twitter and Facebook, and find comprehensive coverage of New York #globaldev Week here.

    Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.

    • Global Health
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Lean Alfred Santos

      Lean Alfred Santos@DevexLeanAS

      Lean Alfred Santos is a former Devex development reporter focusing on the development community in Asia-Pacific, including major players such as the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. He previously covered Philippine and international business and economic news, sports and politics.

    Search for articles

    Related Stories

    Malaria'Malaria thrives on chaos' — and the US aid freeze is creating it

    'Malaria thrives on chaos' — and the US aid freeze is creating it

    Global healthOpinion: TB is back as top infectious killer. AI can change that

    Opinion: TB is back as top infectious killer. AI can change that

    Sponsored by Siemens HealthineersOpinion: Opportunities to improve the future of skilled workforce

    Opinion: Opportunities to improve the future of skilled workforce

    Sponsored by AstraZenecaReaching the underserved: Strategies to improve equitable health outcomes

    Reaching the underserved: Strategies to improve equitable health outcomes

    Most Read

    • 1
      How low-emissions livestock are transforming dairy farming in Africa
    • 2
      Opinion: Mobile credit, savings, and insurance can drive financial health
    • 3
      Opinion: India’s bold leadership in turning the tide for TB
    • 4
      USAID's humanitarian bureau is under pressure and overstretched
    • 5
      The UN's changing of the guard
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement