Dear colleagues and friends,
Thank you for joining us today to discuss the critical issue of palliative care.
At the beginning of 2018, I had the honour of meeting Lucy Watts, a brave young woman with neuromuscular disease, who has been limited to a wheelchair since she was 14 years old. Lucy is dependent on intravenous nutrition 21 hours a day.
Some of you may know Lucy as a vocal advocate for palliative care and universal health coverage. I believe she may even be online with us today.
Thanks to the UK’s National Health Service, Lucy’s palliative care is taken care of. She doesn’t worry about whether she can afford the care she needs just to stay alive.
Recently I received an email from Lucy, and I’d like to read part of it to you. This is what she wrote:
“I have had a strange year. COVID has restricted my life to home, but surprisingly to some that hasn’t really stopped me in any way.
It’s amazing the impact of universal health coverage and good palliative care can have on one’s life - not just in terms of quality, but in extending the length of life.
All my palliative care nurses have said I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the work I do; but the work I do is only possible because of good healthcare, palliative care and symptom control. I truly am privileged to live in the UK and to have been born into the generation I have.”
Lucy’s story is a powerful reminder of the value of palliative care – not only for the end of life, but for enabling life.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder that palliative care must be available across disease and age groups, through an integrated approach based on universal health coverage, through primary health care.
In addition to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, a key part of WHO’s work this year has been supporting countries to maintain essential health services, including palliative care.
Older persons living in institutions, as well as patients in intensive care units, or any other person with life-threatening conditions, can require palliative care.
Health professionals and institutions must be prepared to relieve suffering while ensuring respect for the patient’s dignity and quality of life.
At the same time, older people and those living in care homes remain especially at risk from COVID-19. They must be a priority as vaccines become available.
WHO also remains concerned about the global disparities in the availability and accessibility of controlled medicines that are used for palliative care.
This is a problem even in normal times, but the COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disruptions to supply chains and shortages of these critical medicines.
But we are seeing encouraging stories as well, as many countries are making progress in their provision of palliative care.
These need to be monitored and carefully evaluated, so we can learn from their experiences.
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WHO’s collaboration with civil society organizations on palliative care has included the development of guidance documents and assessment tools, and advocacy for equitable access.
These partnerships should be strengthened, especially with regard to knowledge dissemination, capacity-strengthening in countries, and coordination between different levels of care.
Today’s dialogue gives us an opportunity to renew our commitment to fight the escalating global burden of serious health-related suffering, a situation which is ethically inacceptable.
We need to agree on concrete actions to improve access to essential medicines for palliative care, for both adults and children, and at all levels of care.
We also need to be more creative in using new technologies to facilitate communication and coordination, as we work to engage communities, address cultural barriers and fears, and fight misinformation.
The benefit of palliative care depends on patients and their families being actively engaged in decision-making processes.
These are ambitious goals, but they are also necessary. Civil society organizations are crucial to making these changes happen at the community and institutional level.
Lucy Watts is an inspiring person, but she also recognizes that she is lucky to have access to care that many other people around the world do not.
I’ll leave you with one other comment she made in her recent email to me:
“I do my best, with what I have, and I am managing to still do my work and make an impact. I have too much important work to do; my voice and my platform needs to be utilised for the benefit of others.”
My brother and sisters, that is the task for all of us: to use our voice and our platform for the benefit of others.
Thank you.