Strengthening Patient Advocacy in South Asia: Aligning Regional Action with the WHO Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030

Written by Wafi Ara Faruqui, Nidhi Nagabhatla, Taufique Joarder, Sharif Mohammed Sadat & Md Aminul Hasan
 

South Asia records some of the highest global per capita death rates due to poor healthcare quality, where clinical harms are structurally produced by weak regulation, fragmented governance, and low public trust.

While Strategic Objective 4 of WHO’s Global Patient Safety Action Plan (GPSAP 2021–2030) demands patient empowerment, regional frameworks like WHO-SEARO’s Strategy (2016–2025) treat patients merely as beneficiaries rather than active health governance partners.
 

Community-level groups across South Asia actively promote patient rights, health literacy, and disease support, yet remain fragmented, donor-dependent, and unintegrated into formal national health architectures.

Increasing cross-border medical travel within South Asia lacks unified guidelines regarding patient safety protocols, continuity of care, and compensation for adverse events occurring abroad.

Establishing a regional network—the South Asian Patient Safety and Advocacy Network (SAPSAN)—can formalize patient advocacy, bridge regional governance gaps, and embed patient voices directly into SAARC/BIMSTEC health dialogues.