All of us, at some point in our lives, will have an injection to retain or restore good health. But sometimes injections that are intended to promote health do the opposite. This happens when they are given in an unsafe way - using the same needle or syringe to give injections to more than one person. Practices like this can lead to the transmission of life-threatening infections. Patients and communities can play their part in safe injections by being aware of the risks of unsafe injections, the benefits of taking medicines by mouth and how to ask health care providers to consider alternatives to injections and where they are necessary, ensure that injections are delivered with a syringe and needle opened form new packets. This WHO animated video provides key messages as well as a call to action to patients and communities to play their part in making injections safe. For more information: www.who.int/infection-prevention/en