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What is OSI’s work in the area of palliative care and human rights?
OSI has worked to improve end-of-life care for patients and their families, with a special focus on vulnerable populations, including the elderly, children, and patients with cancer or HIV and AIDS. The main public health network program supporting work in this area is the International Palliative Care Initiative (IPCI). Work around the human rights implications of palliative care is still in its infancy with IPCI at the forefront. IPCI, along with OSI’s Law and Health Initiative (LAHI), is supporting the development of a background paper and curriculum around palliative care as a human right, outlining the principal human rights norms relevant to palliative care and the legal procedures available to vindicate these rights. Other examples of projects supported by IPCI include:
- Reports
- Brennan, F. Palliative Care as an International Human Right. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management special issue. Volume 33, Number 5, May 2007.
- Convenings
- In October 2006, IPCI and LAHI convened a dialogue between palliative care providers and HIV and AIDS and legal advocates in South Africa to discuss the provision of better services to AIDS patients. A reference group formed to carry this project forward and is pursuing the pilot integration of legal services in a hospice, a joint palliative care/ legal advocates manual, and a potential test case around funeral benefits or disability grants.
- In 2005, the Worldwide Alliance for Palliative Care convened the Second Global Summit on Hospice and Palliative Care in Seoul, Korea, which released the Korean Declaration on the Right of Palliative Care.
- In 2006, OSI, with the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) and the World Health Organizations (WHO), convened 18 professional organizations to develop an essential medicines list for palliative care.
- Regional Drug Availability Meetings in Hungary, Uganda, and Ghana have developed country plans to address regulatory barriers to essential pain medications.
- Trainings
- Two -year International Pain Policy Fellowship, training fellows in evaluating regulatory barriers to opioid analgesics in their countries.
- Two-year Palliative Care in AIDS and Cancer Fellowships, developing palliative care expertise in infectious diseases and in hospitals caring for oncology patients.
- An annual Salzburg Palliative Care Course (AIDS, Cancer, Nursing).
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