Diederik Lohman1, James Cleary2, Stephen Connor3, Liliana De Lima4, Julia Downing5, Joan Marston6, Claire Morris3, Sara Pardy7, Katherine Pettus4. 1. Open Society Foundations (D.L., S.P.), New York, New York, USA. Electronic address: diederiklohman@gmail.com. 2. Walther Global Palliative Care and Supportive Oncology, IUSCC, Indianapolis (J.C.), Indiana, USA. 3. Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (S.C., C.M.), London, UK. 4. International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, Houston (L.D., K.P.), Texas, USA. 5. International Children's Palliative Care Network, Makerere University (J.D.), London/ Kampala, UK/ Uganda. 6. PatchSA Palliative Treatment for Children South Africa (J.M.), Bloemfontein, South Africa. 7. Open Society Foundations (D.L., S.P.), New York, New York, USA.
Abstract
CONTEXT: Between 2000 and 2020 Open Society Foundations was one of very few funders that supported global palliative care development and advocacy. OBJECTIVES: To describe progress made in three priority areas-the integration of palliative care into public health systems, access to controlled medicines, and pediatric palliative care-during those 20 years. METHODS: Activities and developments between 2000 and 2020 on global integration of palliative care into health systems, access to and availability of controlled medicines, and pediatric palliative care are described and analyzed. RESULTS: Major progress has been made in each area. Whereas in 2000, integration of palliative care into public healthcare systems was on the agenda in just a few pioneering countries, by 2020 a global consensus had emerged that palliative care should be integral to all health systems including in universal health coverage and countries were increasingly taking steps to integrate it into national health systems. While limited availability of these medicines was barely recognized as a public health or drug control issue in 2000, it had become an important priority in global drug policy debates by 2020 and numerous countries had taken steps to improve access to these medicines. Pediatric palliative care, available mostly in a small number of wealthy countries in the 1990s, has seen rapid growth, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and now has a solid foothold in all world regions. CONCLUSION: Despite this progress, significant challenges remain as funding for palliative care advocacy is limited, the overdose crisis in the US has recently had a chilling effect on efforts to improve availability of opioid analgesics, and economic crises related to the COVID-19 pandemic create uncertainty over the future of universal health coverage.
CONTEXT: Between 2000 and 2020 Open Society Foundations was one of very few funders that supported global palliative care development and advocacy. OBJECTIVES: To describe progress made in three priority areas-the integration of palliative care into public health systems, access to controlled medicines, and pediatric palliative care-during those 20 years. METHODS: Activities and developments between 2000 and 2020 on global integration of palliative care into health systems, access to and availability of controlled medicines, and pediatric palliative care are described and analyzed. RESULTS: Major progress has been made in each area. Whereas in 2000, integration of palliative care into public healthcare systems was on the agenda in just a few pioneering countries, by 2020 a global consensus had emerged that palliative care should be integral to all health systems including in universal health coverage and countries were increasingly taking steps to integrate it into national health systems. While limited availability of these medicines was barely recognized as a public health or drug control issue in 2000, it had become an important priority in global drug policy debates by 2020 and numerous countries had taken steps to improve access to these medicines. Pediatric palliative care, available mostly in a small number of wealthy countries in the 1990s, has seen rapid growth, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and now has a solid foothold in all world regions. CONCLUSION: Despite this progress, significant challenges remain as funding for palliative care advocacy is limited, the overdose crisis in the US has recently had a chilling effect on efforts to improve availability of opioid analgesics, and economic crises related to the COVID-19 pandemic create uncertainty over the future of universal health coverage.