Lakhs of patients are harmed each year due to unsafe health care worldwide resulting in over 2.6 million deaths annually in low-and middle-income countries alone.

But most of these deaths are avoidable, the World Health Organisation, whose primary role is to direct international health within the United Nations’ system and to lead partners in global health responses, said on Saturday, while also asserting that the personal, social and economic impact of patient harm leads to losses of trillions of dollars worldwide.

Agencies