In the report presented this Thursday, entitled “Those Left Behind by Pain”, the body highlights the problems in accessing this vital drug and proposes measures to improve safe access to morphine through balanced policies.
He stressed that although morphine is effective in relieving severe pain, it is relatively inexpensive and has been on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines since 1977, the year it was first published, there were marked differences in access to morphine across countries.
The difference in estimated mean morphine use is between five and 63 times larger in high-income countries than in low-income countries.
Even in countries with similar levels of affluence, consumption patterns vary significantly and do not meet medical needs, as reflected in the estimated number of days many people spend in pain or severe shortness of breath with a terminal illness.
“The fact that nothing is done to reduce pain when effective drugs are available to treat it, particularly in the context of end-of-life care, should be of great concern to policymakers,” said Yukiko Nakatani, WHO Deputy Director-General for Medicines and Health Products.
“We urgently need to work to ensure that people who need morphine for medical reasons have safe and timely access to relevant medicines worldwide through balanced policies,” the expert added.
As reasons for the inequality, the document cites enabling factors related to good governance, reliable and efficient procurement and delivery processes, the availability of resources and capacity-building activities.
It also points to barriers due to overly restrictive laws and policies, inadequate service delivery, and misinformed attitudes and perceptions.
The report also presents a number of complementary measures aimed at improving safe access to morphine.
These include implementing smaller regional or state programs, streamlining procurement and supply processes to address inefficiencies, capacity building for health workers, and raising awareness of the benefits and potential harms of opioid drug use.
lam/lpn