ICPCN Represented at Side Event of the WHA in Geneva

Busi Nkosi, Advocacy Officer for the International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) attended the United Nations side event on palliative care which had been organised by national and international palliative care organisations. This is a brief report back on the event.

The event on Wednesday 22 May was well attended by representatives from the palliative care community, government’s ministries of health and members from the World Health Organization (WHO). There were presentations from Nigeria, Malaysia, Senegal and the USA. Dr Claude Morreira’s presentation from Senegal focused on Children’s Palliative Care. The WHO was very positive and agreed that palliative care should be part of integrated care and pointed out that it has already been included in the

Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non communicable Diseases, Global Monitoring Framework and Universal Health Coverage.

Before the meeting began I was fortunate to have a chance meeting with the South African Health Minister. I took the opportunity to tell him about the ICPCN. He was interested to learn about the work of the ICPCN and expressed his admiration for people involved in caring for children with life limiting conditions.

On Thursday 23 May I attended a pre-meeting on developing indicators for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) organised by civil society in preparation for a meeting with the WHO. In the afternoon of the same day the WHO meeting took place and representatives from various sectors across the globe attended. We heard the following presentations:

• UHC measurement by Dr Jadej Thammatacharee from Thailand
• The process of defining UHC indicators by Dr Ties Boerma of the WHO
• Technical challenges for measuring UHC by Prof. Srinath Reddy from India
• Why is it important for civil society organisations to have indicators that would hold governments to their commitments 
• UHC has been defined as a situation where all people who need health services (prevention, promotion, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care) receive them, without incurring financial hardship (World Health Report 2010). It consists of two inter-related components: coverage with needed quality health care and access to financial risk protection for everyone.

On Friday 24 May I had a meeting with Dr Lulu Muhe from the WHO with the aim of having Children’s Palliative Care included in health care policy for HIV positive children. A good relationship was established with him although he did not agree with our request, stating that HIV positive children don’t need palliative care due to the efficacy of ARVs. We agreed that we need to continue talking to each other and I sent him a copy of the report on Global Access to Pain Relief: Evidence for Action.

On the same day I also met Dr Kate Armstrong, executive Secretary of NCD Child. Our meeting was very fruitful and we shall be collaborating on the issue of palliative care for children with non communicable diseases. She promised to post the ICPCN NCD position paper on the NCD website.

This visit to the United Nations provided me with an opportunity of not only meeting with policy makers, but also many of those working within and outside the palliative care community. It was a great opportunity for me to establish many important relationships.