With our organisational members in over 70 countries, we provide a global voice on hospice and palliative care. The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA) is an international non-governmental organisation focusing exclusively on hospice and palliative care development worldwide. We are a network of national and regional hospice and palliative care organisations and affiliate organisations. We believe that no one with a life-limiting condition, such as cancer or HIV, should live and die with unnecessary pain and distress. Our vision is a world with universal access to hospice and palliative care. Our mission is to foster, promote and influence the delivery of affordable, quality palliative care.

WHPCA es una red de organizaciones nacionales y regionales trabajando sobre el acceso a hospicios y cuidados paliativos, cuya misión es empujar, promover e influir en la oferta de cuidados económicos y de calidad.

WHPCA est un réseau d’organisations nationales et regionals travaillant sur les soins palliatifs et hospitaliers, dont la mission est de promouvoir et d’influencer l’accès à des soins palliatifs abordables et de bonne qualité.

Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA)

On the 22nd of May 2019, Congresswoman Katherine Clark and Congressman Hal Rogers, two members of the US House of Representatives, published a report 

(“Corrupting influence: Purdue and the WHO”1)

 claiming (falsely) that the development of two World Health Organization (WHO) guidance documents (

Ensuring Balance in National Policies on Controlled Substances 

Guidelines on the Pharmacological Treatment of Persisting Pain in Children with Medical Illnesses

 ), was influenced by the interests of Purdue Pharma. This influence was, according to the report, achieved through organizations and individuals serving the interests of the company (Purdue Pharma is the maker of OxyContin, a commercial brand of oxycodone). The report argued that by developing, distributing and promoting these guidelines, the WHO was helping the pharmaceutical company increase its market share and putting other countries at risk of replicating the US “opioid crisis.” The report contains serious factual inaccuracies and draws inaccurate and unfair conclusions. It includes misleading information, and by making false accusations of existing collaborations and alliances to advance pain relief and palliative care, concludes that there was corruption within WHO. No staff member of the offices of the US representatives contacted any of the organizations or individuals mentioned in the document to seek our responses to the allegations made in the report.

On June 19, the WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, sent a letter to the US Representatives informing them that the WHO had taken the Report’s concerns very seriously and that the agency had decided to withdraw the two guidelines, published in 2011 and 2012. The WHO has now published the statement in its website https://www.who.int/medicines/areas/quality_safety/guide_nocp_sanend/en/ Unfortunately, this action provides credibility to a report not based on facts or scientific evidence and suggests that the development of these guidelines was inappropriately influenced.

WHO’s decision took all the academic, civil society, experts and organizations involved in the development of these guidance documents by surprise. Both documents were developed in order to improve the situation of millions of patients worldwide who suffer from lack of, or inadequate access to medications, including pain medications, like the patient quoted above. The guidelines were not commercially initiated, funded or influenced. Our primary focus has been, continues to be and will always be the patients and their families. Those working in the field have seen and experienced how unrelenting, excruciating pain affects individuals and families and the magnitude of the suffering it engenders.

Joint Position Statement on the decision by WHO to withdraw guidance documents

A warm welcome to our 5th International Palliative Care Conference in Africa, co-hosted in Kampala from August 16-19 by the African Palliative Care Association and the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance.

The conference theme, “Hospice and Palliative Care: Resolution to Action” echoes our vision to disseminate ideas and research evidence for how to move to action faster and more effectively in wake of the 2014 World Health Assembly Resolution on palliative care.

While these commitments were made at the global and national levels, it is now time to look at what is happening on the ground and determine how we can increase action on the resolution.

At the conference, we will examine the evidence closely. While recognising different contexts, we will focus on learning in all directions highlighting where practitioners have got it right so far and the challenges they face --whether that is in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe or the Middle East.

We are committed to practical outputs on how this resolution can be used to significantly increase the quality of life of patients and their families all around the world.

We need to join together, share and learn from each other to ensure patients on our watch receive services that reflect the dignity and quality of life that match their worth. The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance and the African Palliative Care Association look forward to welcoming you to Kampala.

For more information, please visit the conference website.

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5th International African Palliative Care Conference

Based on Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/28/L.22, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is planning to draft a report on the impact of drugs and drug control on human rights in order to feed into the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs, which will be held in 2016.

In order to feed into the report, a series of NGOs submitted letters highlighting the impact of drug control on human rights. Please click on each link below to read these submissions:

Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA)

Region

Translations

Related Content

Joint Position Statement on the decision by WHO to withdraw guidance documents

5th International African Palliative Care Conference

NGOs highlight human rights violations committed in the name of drug control