The IAHPC delegation to the 79th World Health Assembly (L-R): Serena Cruz, Sherin Susan Paul, Elizabeth Persad, myself, and Richard Bauer. Photo used with permission.
June 4, 2026
IAHPC Tables 5 Statements at the WHA
"Walking the Talk" in the streets of Geneva. Photo used with permission.
Dr. Sherin Paul and Chaplain Richard (Rick) Bauer kicked off the week of the World Health Assembly on Sunday, May 17, by “Walking the Talk”—carrying IAHPC signs through the streets of Geneva. Joined on Monday by Dr. Serena Cruz and Dr. Elizabeth Persad, the IAHPC delegation navigated constantly changing committee agendas to give our oral statements on agenda items pertaining to:
- antimicrobial resistance
- emergency, critical, and operative (ECO) care
- health in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
- primary health care
- WHO’s work in emergencies
In between scheduled statements, the team attended selected side events and roundtables, and networked with colleagues in partner organizations.
Serena organized a Global Surgery Umbrella side event on universal health coverage (UHC) where I presented on the issue of stigma and lack of access to internationally controlled essential medicines. Rick presented on palliative care in emergencies. Elizabeth, our pediatric palliative care physician from Trinidad and Tobago, represented the IAHPC at a side event on Pain in Global Health organized by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and cosponsored by us. She also attended a meeting I organized with Monsignor Riyyan Mendoza, Deputy Nuncio at the Holy See Mission to the United Nations Office.
Although much work remains to secure adequate understanding by policymakers of palliative care’s unique bio-psychosocial-spiritual approach, the phrase “palliative care” is gradually becoming more normalized at high-level meetings. Several interventions on the floor by member states such as Togo and Slovakia demonstrated this. Increased awareness of palliative care was evidenced as part of the global health discourse encoded in resolutions, in global strategies such as ECO, and in reports of the UN director general.
“I was struck at the respect and diplomacy displayed in allowing member states to contribute, voice their opinions and vote on resolutions. There was also consideration given to non-state actors to state their opinions on certain resolutions. I was fascinated to see so many allied health professionals assembled in one place and encouraged to see medical and pharmacy students give statements and ask important questions as plans for the future of the health of the world were formulated.
“It was a rare occasion of hopefulness for the future health care goals for the world, even as we struggle to implement the goals that were discussed and adjust to the various economic and social challenges impacting health systems.”
First-time attendee Elizabeth Persad
Interfaith PC Network Convenes
Our in-person interfaith working session at the Red Cross headquarters in Geneva was a wonderful opportunity to meet new colleagues—many from the delegation of the World Council of Churches—and hear about best practices in different settings.
More than 20 invitees in town for the WHA joined in person, and a similar number from other countries connected online. All were galvanized by the need to build partnerships between faith-based health organizations, clergy of all faiths, and palliative care practitioners to relieve the spiritual suffering of patients, caregivers, and healthcare workers.
Following the opening prayer given by Chaplain Rick, participants were asked to introduce themselves, say what they expected to bring to the meeting, and tell everyone what they would like to take away. I followed the round of introductions with a short presentation introducing IAHPC and the genesis of the network. Presenters from the Austrian Red Cross, Nagaland Palliative Care Association, and the US-based PEPFAR HIV/AIDS faith initiative discussed examples of clergy/health worker partnerships.
The lively open discussion—punctuated by a short coffee break—lasted two-and-a-half hours. We promised to follow up with a survey covering items we did not have time to discuss, and an outline of future plans for the network.
If you would like to participate in the network and receive the planned IFAN (Interfaith Advocacy Network) bulletin, please fill out this 15-minute survey.
Palliative Care & AI
Colin McIff, executive director of the Global Alliance for Surgical, Obstetric, Trauma, and Anesthesia Care; Father Tullio Proserpio, chaplain and representative of the Pontifical Academy for Life; and Dr. Sarah Holderness, technical officer of WHO Epidemic & Pandemic Preparedness & Prevention, listen to Père Moussa Wahib, a Coptic Orthodox priest and surgeon, make a point about the need to improve communication for surgical palliative care patients. Photo used with permission.
As readers who follow the news will know, Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, released on May 15, 2026, identifies and celebrates the essence of our common humanity in the era of artificial intelligence (AI). The text warns that AI could hijack the core of that humanity, which could also hijack palliative care education, research, and practices, especially where AI is embedded in industry and government programs.
I suggest that palliative care advocates heed the call to be vigilant as governments and industry rush to introduce AI health and social care systems. AI’s potentially humanity-erasing influence could compromise the future of palliative care unless we attempt to counteract it by explicitly proclaiming our discipline’s irreducibly human-centered features.
The danger stems from the fact that AI is not neutral: it derives from the knowledge and perspective of its programmers. Since the latter probably share the dismally low levels of public and academic palliative care literacy, vigilance is called for to ensure that AI-designed healthcare systems do not perpetuate already problematic marginalization of interdisciplinary palliative care practices, ethics, and vulnerable populations.
A palliative care-friendly AI, properly “disarmed” in Pope Leo’s words, has the potential to support practices that relieve—rather than exacerbate—human suffering. The encyclical “encourages us to hear the silence of those who have no voice when decisions are made, decisions likely to generate new forms of exclusion and suffering.” Palliative care advocates already hear and raise their voices in the public square. Globally, millions of people are excluded from mainstream health systems, living without relief from serious health-related suffering or living alone, in serious pain, on their deathbeds. AI algorithms that foster the ideology of “healthy aging” could, by excluding these realities, savagely skew systems even further.
The interdisciplinary palliative care approach, whether faith-based or secular, shares the encyclical’s premise that “every person is unique and irreplaceable, a free and intelligent subject with a conscience, capable of seeking God, serving one another, caring for our common home.” It will be key to preserve and strengthen that ethical core in the face of potential AI domination.
An article of interest
The May issue of Development published a thematic, “Crisis of Care” issue that includes an article that I wrote titled “The Palliative Gaze: Reimagining Late Modern Citizenship Through a Palliative Ethics of Care.” Members: If you would like a PDF, contact me through Pallinet.