Integrating palliative care and symptom relief into the response to humanitarian emergencies and crises

Overview

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reports that, in 2015, nearly 125 million people needed humanitarian assistance worldwide. Yet responses to humanitarian emergencies and crises rarely provide palliative care, the discipline devoted to preventing and relieving suffering rather than to specific diseases, organs or technical skills.

This guide, the fourth in a series of World Health Organization (WHO) guidance documents on palliative care, describes the medical and moral necessity of integrating palliative care and pain relief into responses to humanitarian emergencies and crises of all types. It offers an expanded conception of palliative care based on the needs of people affected by humanitarian emergencies and crises and proposes an Essential Package of Palliative Care for Humanitarian Emergencies and Crises (EP Hum).