The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (QF), hosted its seventh edition of WISH Summit in Doha on the 13th and 14th November 2024. Over the two days, more than 3,000 health policymakers, innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers, and practitioners came together at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) to look for innovative solutions to some of the world’s most significant health challenges.
This year WISH partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop three WHO-led collaborative research projects, generating evidence-based reports for in-depth discussion at the summit. This partnership underscores a joint commitment to enhancing policy and practice and these reports focused on topics that urgently require the attention of the global health community. Additionally, local and international partners collaborated with WISH to produce summit reports covering various issues including health systems, ethics, physical health, and mental health.
The three WIHS/WHO reports were:
- Palliative Care: How can we respond to 10 years of limited progress?
- In the line of fire: Protecting health in armed conflict
- Innovative Solutions for the elimination of tuberculosis among refugees and migrants
Ten years ago, World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution 67.19 on Palliative Care called for global strengthening of quality, accessible palliative care service for people of all ages as an essential component of universal health coverage (UHC). The WHA Resolution 67.19, and the inclusion of palliative care as an essential health service under UHC and the Declaration of Astana at the Global Conference on Primary Health Care, were in response to unmet, and growing need for palliative care. Evidence suggests that progress has been extremely slow in expanding access and improving quality of palliative care services globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
To address the growing demand, and correct the lack of progress on the recommendations of WHA Resolution 67.19, it is crucial to use evidence for palliative care interventions, models and delivery. This report includes multiple case studies that highlight innovative and transformative models of palliative care. They serve as exemplars for what targeted intervention can achieve in palliative care delivery, education and training, outcome measurement, cultural adaptation, needs assessment and policy development.
The report details the persisting and worsening inequities in access to and quality of palliative care services globally. Geographic, social, cultural and health-literacy related inequities in access to and quality of palliative care services persist. Drivers include access to essential medicines such as opioids, clinician and public reluctance to address issues around disease progression, and presumptions that palliative care is solely for people with cancer or those who are close to dying.
The report concludes with a warning that, unless urgent, evidence-informed, co-ordinated action is taken, the benefits of palliative care will not be achieved under UHC to meet the growing demand for care. We recommend priority action areas to expand access to timely and effective palliative care for children and adults globally. Based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) six components of palliative care development, these priority areas include: developing national palliative care policies that prioritise evidence-based guidelines and sustainable funding; empowering and facilitating community action in service development, research, and peer support; improving equal access to palliative care services for people of all ages without sacrificing quality, paying particular attention to LMICs and vulnerable populations; expanding education and training for both specialists and non-specialists at all levels; ensuring access to essential medicines; and building research capacity.
ICPCN were delighted to having contributed to the development of the report as members of the WISH 2024 Forum on Palliative Care Advisory Group, and were at the WISH meeting in Doha for it’s launch. We were also delighted to be able to advocate for children’s palliative care with Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization.
Session on the Palliative Care Report at WISH 2024