Uncontrolled pain
Subtitle: Ukraine's obligation to ensure evidence-based palliative care
By: [Diederik Lohman]
Contributors: Human Rights Watch (Organization)
Publisher: Human Rights Watch
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 93
ISBN-13: 9781564327680
Subjects: Palliative treatment; Pain medicine; Health services accessibility; Narcotics; Evidence-based medicine; Human rights
Other titles: Ukraine's obligation to ensure evidence-based palliative care
Description: "Every year, tens of thousands of people in Ukraine develop severe, chronic pain due to cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other health conditions. Most do not have access to adequate strong pain medications, even though morphine--the medication of choice for severe pain--is effective, safe, and inexpensive. Like Vlad Zhukovsky, many of these patients face unbearable suffering, often for extended periods of time.  The World Health Organization holds that "[m]ost, if not all, pain due to cancer could be relieved if we implemented existing medical knowledge and treatments." Yet, the Ukrainian government has done little to ensure that patients who face severe pain have access to appropriate treatment, including morphine.  Unnecessarily onerous drug regulations and lack of oral morphine make strong pain medications inaccessible to large swaths of the population. Even patients who can access them suffer since most doctors are not adequately trained in managing pain, and drug regulations interfere with evidence-based medical care.  The lack of government action to address this situation violates the right to health and, in some cases, the prohibition of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. It also causes enormous pain to patients with pain and their families. Uncontrolled Pain: Ukraine's Obligation to Ensure Palliative Care calls on Ukraine's government to take immediate steps to ensure all patients with pain can access appropriate health services."--
Notes: "May 2011"--Table of contents page.

"Diederik Lohman wrote the report."--P. 92.

Also available online.

Also published in Ukrainian.
Table of contents: title: Map of Ukraine; title: Glossary; title: Prologue: The Story of Vlad Zhukovsky; title: Summary; title: Key Recommendations; title: Methodology; title: I. Overview: Palliative Care and Pain Treatment; title: II. Rural Areas: Unavailable or Hard-to-Access Strong Pain Medications; title: The Story of Konstantin Zvarich; title: Lack of Narcotics Licenses at Health Clinics and Pharmacies; title: A Broken Pain Treatment Delivery System; title: Pharmacies and Opioid Analgesics; title: III. Throughout Ukraine: Ensuring Quality of Pain Treatment Services; title: The Story of Lyubov Klochkova; title: Comparing Ukrainian Pain Treatment Practices with WHO Principles; title: Problems with Treatment of Non-Cancer Pain; title: IV. Exploring the Causes of Untreated Pain; title: Policy; title: Education of Healthcare Workers; title: Drug Availability; title: The Role of Pharmaceutical Company Zdorovye Narodu; title: The Role of the INCB and UNODC; title: V. The Human Rights Analysis; title: National Law; title: The Right to Health; title: Palliative Care and the Right to Health; title: The Prohibition of Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment; title: VI. A Way Forward: Recommendations for Immediate Implementation; title: To the Ukrainian Government; title: To Zdorovye Narodu; title: To the International Community; title: Acknowledgments.