From understanding harm to coordinated action
From understanding medication-related harm to coordinated action and impact.
What systems see vs what patients live
Preventing medication-related harm requires more than awareness. It requires coordinated action across regulation, healthcare delivery, medicines safety systems, patient engagement, innovation, and the safe and rational use of medicines.
Through keynote presentations, expert discussions, patient perspectives, innovation showcases, workshops and networking, participants will explore how Africa's medicines ecosystem can work together to prevent harm and improve patient safety.
Perceived Safety
What systems believe is happening.
Reported Safety
What reporting and surveillance systems capture.
Lived Safety
What patients actually experience.
Preliminary programme
Sessions, speakers, and timings below are still being finalised and may change ahead of the Summit.
Day 1 · 16 September 2026
Diagnosis — What we think vs what is actually happening
Patient safety fails when systems confuse visibility with reality.
- 08:30 – 09:30
Opening Plenary — The Gap Between Perception and Reality
PlenaryKey question — What do we believe patient safety looks like — and what is actually happening?
- Patient lived-experience keynote
- Frontline healthcare professional testimony
- Global safety systems perspective
- 09:30 – 11:00
The Institutional Model of Safety
Perception LayerSession- How pharmacovigilance systems define safety
- What gets measured vs what gets ignored
- Regulatory and reporting frameworks
“Systems define safety by what they can record — not what patients experience.”
- 11:00 – 11:30
Networking break
- 11:30 – 13:00
Frontline Reality
Clinical LayerSession- Underreporting of adverse events
- Substandard and counterfeit medical products
- Clinical workload and informal safety practices
- Fear and reporting fatigue
- Hidden medication errors
“Most safety events are first seen at the bedside — but rarely reported.”
- 13:00 – 14:00
Lunch
- 14:00 – 15:30
Patient & Community Reality
Lived LayerSession- Patient experience of harm and recovery
- Caregiver observations
- Cultural interpretation of illness and side effects
- Why patients do not report adverse events
“Patients experience safety differently from systems.”
- 16:00 – 17:30
Data Reality vs Actual Reality
System Distortion LayerSession- Underreporting and surveillance bias
- Data gaps and missing signals
- Illusion of completeness in PV systems
- Misinterpretation of safety trends
“What we see in data is only a fraction of what is happening.”
Day output: A complete Reality Gap Map — perceived, reported and lived safety — and the identification of invisible harms and system blind spots.
Day 2 · 17 September 2026
Transformation — Closing the gap between reality and systems
Patient safety improves only when systems reflect reality — not assumptions.
- 08:30 – 10:00
Frontline-Integrated Safety Systems
Session- Effective control of substandard and counterfeit medical products
- Embedding pharmacovigilance into primary healthcare
- Simplified reporting workflows
- No-blame reporting culture
- Community health worker integration
AddressesWeak frontline integrationUnderreporting culture - 10:30 – 12:00
Patient & Community Safety Infrastructure
Session- Direct patient reporting systems (digital + offline)
- Caregiver-enabled reporting pathways
- Community safety awareness
- Trust-building mechanisms
AddressesMissing patient voiceWeak community engagementLow awareness of unsafe medicines - 12:00 – 13:00
Lunch
- 13:00 – 14:30
From Reaction to Prevention
Core System RedesignSession- Predictive pharmacovigilance systems
- Medication-error prevention architecture
- Early-warning systems for substandard and counterfeit medicines
- Real-time medicines safety dashboards
Key shift — From detecting harm to preventing harm.
AddressesReactive safety orientation - 15:00 – 16:30
Integrated Safety System Architecture
Session- Linking counterfeit detection, pharmacovigilance and clinical quality
- Continuous learning health systems
- Real-time feedback loops between patients, clinicians and regulators
- One unified safety intelligence system
AddressesFragmented systemsWeak integration across institutions - 16:30 – 17:30
Governance, Ethics & Sustainability
Session- Patient rights and consent
- Data privacy and cybersecurity
- AI governance in safety systems
- Sustainable financing models
AddressesEthical gapsSustainability gapsDigital trust gaps - 17:30 – 18:00
Closing Plenary — From Reality Gap to Safety Transformation
Plenary- National and regional commitments
- Launch of the Patient Safety Transformation Framework
- Shared accountability declaration
Day output: National and regional commitments, the launch of the Patient Safety Transformation Framework, and a shared accountability declaration.
The programme framework
- 1Understand the System Challenge
- 2Align Around Solutions
- 3Accelerate Implementation
- 4Drive Coordinated Action
What the programme is designed to do
- Expose the reality gap in existing patient safety systems
- Integrate patient, community and frontline perspectives
- Strengthen patient-centred safety intelligence
- Support the transition from reactive to preventive approaches
- Build a shared framework for coordinated patient safety improvement
Summit programme features
Every session is built on evidence — researchers, clinicians, and regulators sharing what is actually happening on the ground.
That evidence is what turns two days of discussion into the continental outputs below.
Implementation-focused continental outputs
The Summit is designed to contribute to longer-term progress in patient safety across Africa.