Resolution: Palliative care in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: from challenges to solutions ( (EM/RC72/R.4)

The resolution urges Member States to integrate palliative care into national health systems — including universal health coverage benefit packages, primary and hospital-based services, and home/community care — while also ensuring access to essential medicines (including oral opioids), workforce training and monitoring frameworks. 

It tasks the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean to support countries in policy and capacity-building, regional procurement arrangements and research on effective models, with reporting on progress at future Regional Committee sessions.

The Resolution follows a decade of work since the 2014 World Health Assembly Resolution (WHA67.19), which recognized palliative care as not only ethical responsibility of health systems but also an essential component of care under Universal Health Coverage. It explicitly recalls WHA67.19 and translates its principles into regional actions, particularly around integration into primary care, safeguarding access to essential medicines, and investment in training and service models adapted to fragile and humanitarian settings.