A Pair of Big Wins: Palliative care included in global agreement & a resolution
Advocacy chalked up a titanic win with the inclusion of the words “palliative care” in the historic WHO Pandemic Agreement approved by World Health Organization member states on April 17.
Illustration provided by the Geneva Global Health Hub, of which IAHPC is a proud member.
IAHPC and partners have been involved since December 2021, when the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) was charged with drafting and negotiating a convention, agreement, or other international instrument to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. We successfully pushed for explicit inclusion of palliative care in the definition of universal health coverage (UHC) in the “Meaning of Terms” section of the treaty (it was absent from the Zero Draft). However, we were not successful in advocating for targeted integration of the practice and its essential medicines in specific paragraphs referring to services.
I had asked interested board members and advocacy focal points to attend one or more of the initial, streamed INB consultations with non-state actors in official relations, and to take the virtual floor whenever they could, or insist in the chat that palliative care be included in any official pandemic preparedness and response planning. IAHPC's 2021 membership survey reported—in line with a growing literature—on health systems’ lack of preparedness for the unprecedented, preventable suffering that healthcare workers, patients, and families experienced during COVID. Providing staff with basic palliative care education and communication skills can protect against moral distress and reduce trauma in the system.
Watch this space & your inbox!
Palliative care advocates at the national level now have their work cut out for them, since the Pandemic Agreement now explicitly includes palliative care as an element of universal health coverage. The IAHPC will be supplying national associations with advocacy resources for integrating palliative care into pandemic preparedness and response during the coming year.
The UN heard us: now join in!
Global advocacy for the rights of older persons with palliative care needs also chalked up a win on April 3 when the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution (A/HRC/RES/58/13) to establish an intergovernmental working group to draft a legally binding instrument (or UN convention) on the rights of older persons. Older persons’ organizations1 all over the world that showed up for more than a decade at annual sessions of the Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing in New York and the Human Rights Council in Geneva can take the credit for this victory. The IAHPC has also shown up to advocate in both Geneva and New York since 2014 to ensure that palliative care is included in any right-to-health language drafted for the convention. We succeeded in accomplishing that goal.
Palliative care advocacy always plays the long game.
Our years of advocacy bore fruit in a recent UN High Commissioner for Human Rights report that mentions the gaps in palliative care coverage for older persons. Member states that voted for the resolution used this report as a reference for their positions. The report explicitly states that:
"Beyond the human rights protection gap relating to discrimination on the basis of older age, other significant gaps and limitations exist that have a particular impact on the effective coverage of the human rights of older persons. These include areas such as: legal capacity, quality of care, long-term care, palliative care..." [Emphasis added]
The IAHPC has committed to serving national palliative care organizations throughout 2025 to 2030, and you can be sure we will be supplying advocacy materials to support your advocacy with the drafters at your national ministries and the permanent mission in Geneva.
How Your National Association Can Help
The fact that the report mentions "significant gaps" relating to palliative care as part of the right to health means that the intergovernmental working group charged with drafting a new convention will need more information on how governments can embed palliative care standards into the convention to fill those gaps. National palliative care associations can be key informants for Geneva negotiators at the permanent missions, who will look to their capitals for support in drafting the relevant paragraphs.
IAHPC's delegation to the 78th WHA
IAHPC’s delegation to the World Health Assembly, May 19-27, 2025, includes myself and these palliative care physicians: board member Maya Jane Bates; Spyridon Giannakis, Malawi; Sherin Susan Paul, Geneva; and Kayla Wolofsky, Canada. We are hoping to lead a constituency statement on safe availability of controlled medicines in health emergencies and inclusion of palliative care in universal health coverage to follow up on the February executive board meeting.
The IAHPC is hosting a breakfast side event with the World Council of Churches on Friday, May 23. Please join us if you are in Geneva: it is free and open to the public. It's being held very early for North America residents to join online, I’m afraid, but is good for those of us in Europe, Africa, and East Asia. Register here or with the QR code. The program begins at 8 am CEST. I will report on the event in the May issue of Pallinews.
Reference
1. The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People
Read more of this week's issue of Pallinews
The Atlas of Palliative Care in Asia-Pacific Regions
Is a persuasive tool to press for improved access to palliative care & essential medicines, particularly for pain relief.
Abraham Fuks' The Language of Medicine
Reviewed by Romayne Gallagher.
In Memoriam
Godspeed, Pope Francis
Katherine Pettus thanks Pope Francis for his supportive stance toward palliative care.