Early integration needs early education

On the 24th of May 2014 at the 67th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its Resolution titled ‘Strengthening of Palliative Care as a Component of Comprehensive Care throughout the Life Course’. It recognised that 40 million people require palliative care every year and that the avoidable suffering of treatable symptoms is perpetuated by the lack of knowledge of palliative care. Projections from the European Union suggest that by the year 2050, the proportion of the European population over the age of 65 years will rise from the current 17% to 28%. An ageing population is likely to lead to an increased number of patients with cancer and other chronic, incurable diseases, requiring increasing palliative care support at the end of life. These changes in health and demographic variables present a major challenge to national health care systems. The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA) identified that in 2015, almost 18 million people in the world died in ‘unnecessary’ pain.