The unifying factor for World Hospice and Palliative Care Day and Voices for Hospices 2011 will be the lighting of a candle or candles to remember all those around the world who have benefitted from hospice and palliative care, and to remember the millions who were unable to access the care that they needed.
If you wish, you may also read out the message of support from the WPCA co-chairs below.
"In September this year, high level representatives from UN
member states met in New York to make commitments to address the huge and
growing burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) which cause 60% of deaths
worldwide. At this meeting, UN member states recognised the need to increase
access to palliative care for people with NCDs. We must now hold them to
account.
This World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, with Voices for
Hospices, is a day to show and highlight how hospice and palliative care
supports people living with NCDs and their carers. Hospice and palliative care
services all around the world are striving to meet the holistic needs of
patients with NCDs.
The commitments made at the UN High Level Meeting were a
great step forward but more needs to be done. We need government inclusion of
palliative care within national action plans on NCDs; we need national governments
to allocate budgets for the implementation and scale up of hospice and
palliative care programmes; we need government commitment to ensuring access to
pain relieving medications, including oral morphine; and we need governments
and communities to recognise each others work and focus on delivering services
in collaboration that meet the needs of the patient and their carer.
Someone who throughout her life strived for better care for
people with life-limiting illnesses was Sheila Hurton, the inspirational
founder of Voices for Hospices and one of the founding leaders of World Hospice
and Palliative Care Day. Sheila died earlier this year at Princess Alice
Hospice in the UK, a hospice she had been a trustee of for many years. On this
World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, we will remember Sheila for her
inspirational leadership, her passion and her success at pushing for improved
care for people living with life-limiting illness worldwide.
We hope you enjoy World Hospice and Palliative Care Day and Voices for Hospices
celebrations."
Cynthia Goh, Co-chair of the WPCA
David Praill, Co-chair of the WPCA
