Palliative care policy development in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia: an Open Society Institute initiative

Wright, M., Clark, J., Greenwood, A., Callaway, M. and Clark, D. (2004) Palliative care policy development in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia: an Open Society Institute initiative. Progress in Palliative Care, 12(2), pp. 71-75. (doi: 10.1179/096992604225005236)

Abstract

In October 2003, delegates from 12 Central/Eastern European and Central Asian countries were invited to participate in a palliative care policy development conference in Budapest, presented and sponsored by the Open Society Institute Network Public Health Program Palliative Care Initiative in collaboration with the Soros Foundation Hungary and the Open Society Fund – Lithuania. These countries were: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Each country selected 5- member teams to represent cancer and AIDS control, palliative care, ministries of health, education, finance and insurance. The goals of the conference were:<br/> • to describe and discuss model country examples of the integration of palliative care into national health care programmes<br/> • to use the experiences of developing these programme policies, laws, regulations, health care systems, financing, standards and professional education to assist these 12 countries in their own development<br/> • to facilitate debate by means of an international faculty drawn from Austria, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Spain, the US and the UK. <br/> In preparation for the conference, the Open Society Institute commissioned the International Observatory on End of Life Care (IOELC) to survey country representatives and collate information about palliative care needs and provision in these 12 countries. Discussion was facilitated by the presentation of a range of country models, including: Catalonia, Spain (1), Poland (2), Austria (3), and the US (4). Other perspectives were presented from the World Health Organization (5), the Open Society Institute (6), the European Association of Palliative Care (7), the Council of Europe Committee of Experts (8), and the International Observatory on End of life Care (9). Inputs also focused on issues around palliative care standards (10) and how to undertake a needs assessment (11).

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Clark, Professor David
• Authors: Wright, M., Clark, J., Greenwood, A., Callaway, M., and Clark, D.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
• Journal Name: Progress in Palliative Care
• Publisher: Maney Publishing
• ISSN: 0969-9260
• ISSN (Online): 1743-291X