Policies on Palliative Care in Different Parts of the World

The WHO public health strategy for palliative care requires enabling policy as one of its three key pillars (alongside drug availability and education) (Department of Health (2003) Building on the best choice, responsiveness and equity in the NHS. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/587438/dh_4068400.pdf; Stjernsward et al., J Pain Symptom Manag 33(5):486–493, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2007.02.016). A major recent driver of palliative care as a core component of health systems around the world has been the World Health Assembly Resolution on Palliative Care (World Health Organization (2014) WHA67.19 resolution: strengthening of palliative care as a component of comprehensive care throughout the life course. World Health Organization, Geneva). Recently, the WHO published a guide “Assessing the development of palliative care worldwide: a set of actionable indicators” which identifies policy as a key foundational measure for integration of palliative care into a country’s health system (World Health Organization (2021) Assessing the development of palliative care worldwide: a set of actionable indicators. World Health Organization, Geneva). Expansion of access to appropriate, high-quality palliative care for adults and children irrespective of country will require the emerging field of global health palliative care research (End of Life Care Strategy: promoting high quality care for all adults at the end of life 2008) to inform the WHO public health strategy. In recent years, we have also greatly increased the evidence base which underpins and supports appropriate policy (Economist Intelligence Unit (2015) The 2015 quality of death index). In this chapter, we draw upon recent policy developments from different parts of the world: from the birthplace of the modern palliative care movement, the UK; from South Africa, which has promoted a strong model of advocacy, provider networks, and academia; from Southern and Eastern Africa, which have advanced policy and provision rapidly in recent years; and lastly, from the field of pediatric palliative care, which has specific policy considerations.