C.5
Percentage of health-care centres that have included palliative care as a basic service.

Definition: Ratio between: (i) numerator: total number of primary health care centres that have included palliative care as a basic service, and (ii) denominator: total health-care centres, multiplied by 100.

Notes:

The definition of health care and basic services are those defined by WHO/PAHO. Both public and private centres should be included.

The San José Charter on the Rights of Older Persons in Latin America and the Caribbean recommends promoting “the development of and access to palliative care to ensure that older persons with terminal illnesses die with dignity and free of pain.”

The Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons (Article 6 –“Right to life and dignity in old age”) states that “States Parties shall take steps to ensure that public and private institutions offer older persons access without discrimination to comprehensive care, including palliative care; avoid isolation; appropriately manage problems related to the fear of death of the terminally ill and pain; and prevent unnecessary suffering, and futile and useless procedures, in accordance with the right of older persons to express their informed consent.”

Type
Quantitative
Priority Measures
Topic
C. Ageing and social protection