The lack of global access to pain control and palliative care throughout the life cycle constitutes a global crisis and action to close this divide between rich and poor is a moral, health and ethical imperative. Global and national health systems solutions exist that can close this divide; lack of financial resources is not the limiting factor. Yet, efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage – a now widely accepted goal of health systems – have largely ignored the need for pain control and palliative care. The issue has seldom if at all been considered through a health system lens applying a diagonal approach that considers chronicity of illness and works across diseases. By coupling evidence-based advocacy with advocacy-inspired evidence we can identify and implement policies and programs that would end the tragedy of health and travesty of justice of permitting poor patients to suffer unnecessary pain, while simultaneously helping all people to avoid unnecessary suffering during and at end of life.
- See full list of Commissioners online or download a PDF.
- See full list of Scientific Advisory Committee Members online or download a PDF.
- See full agenda from launch meeting here.
Scientific Advisory Committee Member List and Bios will be available shortly.