2017; Volume 18, No 10, October
World Hospice and Palliative Care Day
Universal Health Coverage: Let’s build a people-powered movement on World Hospice and Palliative Care Day so those suffering are not left behind
Claire Morris, Global Advocacy Director, The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, urges you to make your voice heard on 14 October.
On 14 October 2017, people around the world will celebrate World Hospice and Palliative Care Day. This year’s theme is: ‘Palliative Care and Universal Health Coverage: Don’t leave those suffering behind’.
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is the most high profile and important health concept of our generation. Governments across the world have committed to achieving UHC as part of the Sustainable Development Goals to ensure that all people have access to needed promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that people do not suffer financial hardship (WHO).
Access to health care is a political issue. Ultimately, heads of state and ministries of health and finance decide how and what national health care is funded, who provides it and who receives it. In the move toward UHC, countries will choose which elements to include within their healthcare packages. If the case is not made strongly at the national level for the inclusion of essential palliative care, it may be left out.
Those who need palliative care have some of the highest health needs. They may seek expensive and inappropriate treatments, thereby driving households into poverty. And yet, increasing access to palliative care as a key part of UHC is not straightforward.
Unfortunately, there is no indicator at the global level to measure palliative care coverage as part of UHC. The World Health Organization notes that existing palliative care indicators do not adequately measure coverage. Despite successful advocacy in 2013 to include palliative care in the definition of the essential spectrum of health services within UHC, it is often left out of United Nations and national documentation that will drive the implementation of UHC over the coming decade. Where is the demand for palliative care to be included in healthcare packages at the national level? Our voice must be persistent at all levels. Action is required by the entire palliative care movement and beyond.
The strapline for World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is: ‘Don’t leave those suffering behind’. As health access increases, certain groups often get left behind. These are often the most marginalized – the poorest, those living in rural areas, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and drug user are often those who need health care the most.
With 40 million people needing palliative care worldwide and less than 10 per cent accessing it, people with incurable illness are being left behind, particularly the poorest and most marginalized in all settings.
Therefore the phrase: ‘Don’t leave those suffering behind’ serves a number of messages:
- Policymakers – Palliative care is an essential part of the UHC package. We need to know how much it costs, how and who will provideand receivequality care, and how we count and measure coverage.
- Palliative care practitioners –The poorest and most marginalized including LGBTI, sex workers and drug users need your care. If you reach the furthest first, you will reach everyone.
- The palliative care movement – This movement is not owned by individuals but requires collective action. Democratize your structures, become more inclusive, reach out to others and ensure that those who are living with conditions are enabled to participate in our collective demands for social change through costed inclusion in governance and activities.
Access to palliative care is not a privilege, it is a right. We need to build demand for palliative care from a people-powered movement to ensure those suffering are not left behind. Make your voice heard on 14 October!