The first resolution on palliative care was adopted at the 67th World Health Assembly in Geneva. By this revolution, the 194 WHO member states, including Moldova, pledge to ensure access to palliative care a component of integrated treatment within the continuum of care, IPN reports.

According to a communiqué of the National Association of Palliative Treatment, the resolution highlights that palliative care can bring financial benefits to the state budget by cost-efficiency. “Palliative care includes a wide range of chronic and degenerative conditions where support for carers and psychological assistance should also be provided. It is not limited to those who are suffering from cancer at the latest stages. Palliative care should be delivered on the basis of need, not diagnosis or prognosis,” said WHO director of the service delivery and safety department Edward Kelley.

The National Association of Palliative Treatment, as a promoter of the palliative care in Moldova, in May submitted the draft national program on palliative care to the Ministry of Health. Currently, there is limited or no access to palliative care services in 42% of countries. Approximately 20 million patients worldwide, 6% of which are children, require palliative care at the end of life. If including patients with progressive illnesses such as heart failure, HIV or drug resistant tuberculosis this number jumps to 40 million.

In Moldova, only 8% of the over 25,000 patients who need palliative care benefit from this service. Most of the caregivers are from the nongovernmental sector.