Design, implementation, and evaluation of palliative care programmes and services with a public health WHO perspective

Abstract

From the 1990s onwards the World Health Organization (WHO) has been proposing palliative care as a key element of health care systems, to be inserted into mainstream planning and organization. Accordingly, WHO Public Health Palliative Care Programmes have been implemented. These programmes are defined as the systematic application of several measures to improve the care of advanced and terminal patients and their families at a population level either at the sector, regional, or national level. This chapter describes the principles, aims, and elements of WHO Public Health Programmes.