By Dr Stephen Connor | Executive Director
Imagine you have just been diagnosed with a serious illness like advanced cancer or heart failure, you are living in a low or middle-income country, and your physicians are offering you treatments you are unable to afford that at best may prolong your survival a few months. You are feeling pain and difficulty breathing constantly. Your family is helping to care for you but they do not know what to do or how to provide care. The country you live in has one palliative care service but it's located in a city 200 km away. There is no way to get strong pain medicine or care at home. This is the reality for over 40 million patients each year not living in a high income country. Eventualy dying without access to even basic palliative care, a health care service that is recognized by the World Health Organization as a fundamental part of the human right to health. The WHPCA is in offical relations with WHO and the UN and is working at the highest levels to gain recognition for palliative care in every country's health care system as part of Universal Health Coverage by 2030. The continuum of UHC is health -promotion-prevention-treatment-rehabilitation-and Palliative Care. The Access Abyss as described in a recent Lancet Commission report is the enormous gap in access to relief of suffering and promotion of well being. We are demonstrating throughout the world that palliative care relieves suffering, provides dignified whole person care, supports families, and reduces poverty. The WHPCA is at the forefront of this fight, but we are a small international charity that needs your help to close this Abyss! If you believe everyone deserves the right to end suffering join us and follow our updates.
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