Expanding access to quality palliative care worldwide
WHO hosted a pre-congress session before the European Association of Palliative Care Congress on 5 October 2021. The main objectives of the session were to share information and experiences regarding the strengthening of palliative care in countries, to inform participants about recent WHO information products developed in response to the WHA resolution, to share lessons learnt from the field and to identify potential gaps to be addressed.
The new WHO resources launched at the session are Assessing the development of palliative care worldwide: a set of actionable indicators and Quality Health Services and Palliative Care: Practical approaches and resources to support policy, strategy and practice. Practical applications of the WHO Guidelines on the management of chronic pain in children were described as well as an update on the development of WHO guidelines on balanced policies for access and safe use of controlled medicines. Panellists from different countries described government partnerships with CSOs and the use and impact of WHO resources in improving access to quality palliative care in countries.