The conference brought together 75 international and local experts from eight post Soviet countries Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Albania, Georgia, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. Among the participants were representatives from National Assembly, government, physicians, educators and beneficiaries.
The conference aimed to:
- Review the progress made since 2009, the start of palliative care developments in Armenia
- Share the knowledge and expertise of the represented countries
- Discuss strategies for the further integration and strengthening of palliative care in Armenia
- Develop a framework for the integration of palliative care into national policy
- Resolve the unnecessary barriers for prescribing opioids to provide patients access to pain relief medication
- Develop and integrate palliative care basic training modules for nurses, physicians, social workers and psychologists.
The Conference presented a range of insights, ideas and best practices on how to promote the palliative care field in Armenia. This was achieved through participatory sessions, mainly by panel discussions and workshops guided by international and local professionals involved in providing institutional and national leadership in the integration of palliative care in their respective countries. Public awareness campaign exhibits highlighted the real stories of patients suffering from pain in Armenia.
Active participation of professionals in the workshop sessions allowed NGOs, health professionals and policy makers to demonstrate their commitment to continue the development and integration of palliative care in the region and jointly address their challenges. It was a delight to watch people with different backgrounds take an active role in modeling palliative care services for their countries and the region.
The Conference culminated with the drafting of a Declaration that will help all participants in presenting the Conference’s recommendations to their national governments for inclusion of Palliative care into the health care system.
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