Eastern Mediterranean Regional Committee Adopts Landmark Palliative Care Resolution

Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean unanimously adopted resolution EM/RC72/R.4 on palliative care, advancing a comprehensive, system-wide approach to relieve serious health-related suffering across the Region. The resolution represents an important step for the region in recognizing the importance of holistic and compassionate care for all patients and for pledging the integration of palliative care throughout the lifespan.

Palliative care is not only a human right but an economically sound investment.

Ministers of Health and nominated delegates from all 22 countries in the region recognized the public health imperative to expand access to palliative care. Several countries shared powerful testimony about unmet palliative care needs, while also highlighting innovations and progress, and pledging concrete national actions and a commitment to regional partnership, with one delegate highlighting an “investment in palliative care is an investment in human dignity.”

Grounded in the technical paper, Palliative care in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: from challenges to solutions, the resolution calls on Member States to:

• Integrate palliative care into primary health care and benefit packages

• Ensure reliable access to essential palliative care medicines (including controlled medicines for pain relief)

• Build workforce capacity through pre-licensure and in-service education; and

• Strengthen data, quality standards and community-based services. 

The resolution tasks the WHO Secretariat with targeted technical support and monitoring. Financial notes indicate a five-year implementation horizon (2026–2030), with an estimated US$10 million Secretariat budget requirement to backstop the rollout.

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 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. 

The technical paper and speakers during the regional committee meeting highlighted stark gaps in access to palliative care while welcoming the region’s shared path forward. The Regional Director’s closing remarks noted that RC72 adopted five critical resolutions overall, reflecting strong consensus to accelerate universal health coverage despite compounding emergencies across the Eastern Mediterranean Region. 

As countries begin translating the resolution into policy and practice, advocates stress the importance of sustained financing, regulatory reforms to ensure access to controlled medicines, and robust training pipelines to equip health workers to reach patients needing palliative care, not only in hospitals, but also at home and in community clinics. 

Explore the palliative care technical paper and resolution as part of Palliative Care Health System Strengthening Collection on the Knowledge to Action Portal. This collection includes features resources to support health system planners, policy makers, administrators, and palliative care advocates to develop and strengthen the implementation of palliative care into national health systems. 

This Palliative Care Resource Collection is focused around the following 8 core topics:

1. Assessing Country-Level Palliative Care with the WHO Indicators
2. Developing Palliative Care Policies and Laws
3. Building Partnerships and Engaging Stakeholders in Palliative Care Planning
4. Education and Training for Health Workforce Development in Palliative Care 
5. Medication Access- Opioids and Controlled Medicines
6. Costing, Prioritization and Integration with other programs (NCD, cancer, etc)
7. Using global tools and guidance documents towards UHC
8. Monitoring and Evaluation, Cycles of Planning and Implementation in Health Systems