19 A WHO guide for planners, implementers and managers
Essential Package of Palliative Care for Primary Health Care The Essential Package of Palliative Care for Primary Health Care is intended to provide health care and
primary care policy-makers, planners, implementers and managers with the information needed to integrate
palliative care into community-based primary care, and thereby:
n
improve patient outcomes by preventing and relieving the most common and severe types of
suffering associated with serious or complex health problems;
n
reduce costs for health care systems by reducing hospital admissions near the end of life and length
of stay;
n
provide financial risk protection for patients and their families; and
n
promote UHC.
The EP PHC is based on the essential package of palliative care described by Krakauer et al.
(7) and Knaul
et al.
(1), and adapted for primary care based on the expert opinions of members of the WHO working
group on palliative care in primary care. It is the minimum package that should be accessible in primary
care clinics at the district or community level, and is designed to address the palliative care needs of both
adults and children. It consists of:
n
a set of safe, effective, inexpensive, off-patent and widely available medicines;
n
simple and inexpensive equipment;
n
basic social supports; and
n
the human resources needed to provide the medicines, equipment and social supports effectively
and safely.
Together, these elements can prevent and relieve suffering of all types – physical, psychological, social and
spiritual (Table 1).
Integrating palliative care and symptom relief into primary health care
20 Table 1. EP PHC: interventions, medicines, equipment, human resources, social supports Interventions
Inputs
