Inclusion of essential components of the World Health Organization palliative care development model in national palliative care plans: A documentary analysis in 31 countries

•The WHO proposed a new model for the development of palliative care.•In light of the new WHO model, palliative care plans should be reviewed.•The new development components are already incorporated into palliative care national plans.•Few palliative national plans are fully aligned with the new WHO model.•Countries may need to evaluate and update their national palliative care plan. The World Health Organization has proposed a new model for the development of palliative care. Whether the current national palliative care plans of Member States are aligned or need to be reformed to meet the new model is unknown. We conducted a documentary analysis of national palliative care plans based on an analytic framework structured with the elements recommended by the World Health Organization: (a) building a plan, (b) plan components, and (c) plan implementation. We conducted a categorical analysis of national plans by subgroups according to income and development level of palliative care. We identified 112 countries with a palliative care plan, of which 31 were included in the analysis. Of these 31 plans, only 8 had the six components proposed by the World Health Organization, 29 reported an implementation strategy, 23 were aligned with the country's national public health plan, and 15 allocated financial resources for plan implementation. All the national plans assessed included the component provision of palliative care in integrated health services; 93%, education and training; 83%, research; 80%, empowered people and communities; 54%, health policies related to palliative care, and 48% use of essential medicines. National palliative care plans include the two new development components, but few are fully aligned with the 2021 World Health Organization's model.