Serious health-related suffering (SHS)
Suffering is health-related when it is associated with illness or injury of any kind. Suffering is serious
when it cannot be relieved without medical intervention and
when it compromises physical, social or
emotional functioning. Palliative care should be focused on relieving SHS associated with life-limiting or
life-threatening
conditions, or the end of life.
Social determinants of health
The conditions
in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are shaped by
the
distribution of money, power and resources at global, national
and local levels, and they are mostly
responsible for health inequities – the unfair and avoidable differences in health
status seen within and
between countries.
Universal health coverage (UHC)
Health coverage that provides people with the health services they need while protecting them from
exposure to financial hardship incurred in obtaining care. Health services are
broadly defined to include
health promotion initiatives (such as anti-tobacco policies or emergency preparedness), disease prevention
activities (such as vaccination)
and the provision of treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care (such as
symptom relief and end-of-life care) of sufficient quality to be effective.
