| Advance
information: March 2007
Events planned in at least 70 countries around the world
Thousands
of people around the world will be staging concerts and other events
to raise awareness and fundraise for hospice and palliative care services
locally, nationally and internationally to mark this annual global event.
This
year the official fundraising event of World Hospice and Palliative
Care Day is Voices for Hospices, a global musical marathon consisting
of a ‘Mexican wave’ across time zones of over 500 concerts
taking place on the same day (6th October) at 7.30pm local time in more
than 70 countries.
The
theme for World Hospice and Palliative Care Day this year is Across
the Ages: from Children to Older People, highlighting
that people of all ages need access to hospice and palliative care,
either as patients or as loved ones or carers of people facing terminal
illness.
While
the emphasis will be on Voices
for Hospices, many different types of international, national and
local fundraising and awareness-raising events are anticipated, including
an international photography competition, the publication of a report
into access to opiates, sponsored walks, exhibitions, celebrations,
rallies and professional conferences.
The
first ever World Hospice and Palliative Care Day took place in October
2005 with more than 1,100 events taking place in 74 countries. It was
launched by HRH Princess Anne in London, and supported by Archbishop
Desmond Tutu who described it as “an important global event”.
In 2006, Bono and Elton John marked the event by expressing their support
for hospice care.
Notes
to editors
- Palliative
care improves the quality of life of patients and their families through
the prevention and relief of suffering by early identification and
treatment of pain and other symptoms as well through practical, psychosocial
and spiritual support.
- Half
of the world’s 234 countries have no palliative care services
available to their populations and one third have yet to take the
first steps in planning to build service capacity.
- In
those countries where hospice and palliative care services are present,
provision is mostly localised, with only 15% of countries having achieved
a measure of integration with mainstream healthcare service providers.
In Pakistan, for example, there is only one service for a population
of 158 million.
- Around
the world, over one million people die every week.
- There
are currently six million cancer deaths and over 10 million new cases
of cancer every year, rising to 15 million by 2020.
- It
is estimated that 100 million people could benefit from basic palliative
care every year. This number is made up of 33 million people dying
(60% of the total number dying in the world each year) and their 66
million family members, companions or carers (based on a conservative
estimate of two people giving care and support for every person that
dies). The actual number of people that receive palliative care is
far lower. Although Sub-Saharan Africa has twice as many deaths per
1000 head of population annually as North America, it has only 1.5%
of global palliative care resources compared to 55% in North America.
World
Hospice and Palliative Care Day has been developed by the following
partner organisations:
- African
Palliative Care Association
- Asia
Pacific Palliative Care Network
- Palliative
Care Australia
- Canadian
Hospice Palliative Care Association
- European
Association of Palliative Care
- Eastern
and Central European Palliative Care Task Force
- Help
the Hospices - UK
- Irish
Hospice Foundation
- Indian
Association for Palliative Care
- International
Association for Hospice and Palliative Care
- International
Observatory on End of Life Care at Lancaster University – UK
- Latin
American Association for Palliative Care
- National
Hospice and Palliative Care Organisation - US
- Open
Society Institute – US
To
find out more and get involved in World Hospice and Palliative Care
Day 2006, visit www.worldday.org,
or email worldday@helpthehospices.org.uk
For
media enquiries, contact
Jo Pratt, Help the Hospices, tel: 020 8699 6566 / 07734 566079 / jopratt@jopratt.com
or
Katie Brewin, Help the Hospices, tel: 0161 881 7753 / katie@kbmedia.co.uk
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