“StopPain", a campaign aimed at promoting access to pain relief for patients with incurable diseases, has been launched in Ukraine
“StopPain”, a campaign aimed at promoting access to pain relief for patients with incurable diseases, has been launched in Ukraine.
The activists behind the campaign say the registration of oral morphine in Ukraine will ease the suffering of people stricken with cancer. This pain killer is currently available in Ukraine only by injection. The tablet form hasn’t been registered in Ukraine, forcing patients to endure pain caused by the disease as well as by the injections.
The initiative was supported by the International Renaissance Foundation’s Public Health Program. The program’s director, Victoria Tymoshevska explained: “We were shocked by the number of testimonies from patients and their families about the pain they must endure during their illness. By getting proper medical care, the terminally ill can feel that they’re not humiliated by the pain and can live as full a life as possible under such circumstances. We will help organizations and activists promote this issue so that it is resolved.”
Every year nearly 428,000 people in Ukraine require pain relief and palliative care to relieve pain associated with terminal illnesses. The registration of oral morphine will significantly improve their life. For decades, oral morphine has been a key method of cancer-related pain management. It is on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines, meaning it is effective, safe and comparatively cost-effective.
Public Health Program
Nadia Kolesnykova
(044) 461 97 09
kolesnykova@irf.ua
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The mission of the Public Health program is to reform public health, to improve public health through support of new approaches to solution of urgent public health problems, in particular, by introduction of a complex model of protection of the rights of patients, palliative care, and support to people living with HIV/AIDS and non-medical drug use.
