ABSTRACT
In May 2014, WHO World Health Assembly Resolution 67.19 called for palliative care to be strengthened “as a component of comprehensive care throughout the life course.”1 This was the first global resolution on palliative care, and the call to integrate it into national health policies and programs was adopted unanimously by the representatives of the 194 Member States attending the Geneva meeting. The resolution meant that palliative care was now included in the definition of universal health coverage, and in the WHO Global Monitoring Framework and action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020. Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial, and spiritual.
