The Shepherds Hospice in Sierra Leone are celebrating the day by training 50 health and social work professionals in palliative care. The training will strengthen their skills in palliative care and emphasize compassion in the delivery of health care to patients and families who are struggling with the challenges of life-threatening illnesses; cancer, HIV, TB, heart failure, diabetes, chronic wounds, etc. We will discuss the concept of pain and holistic care. As part of the day’s event, there were patients who have benefited from palliative care and have now volunteered to tell their stories.
This year, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of World Hospice & Palliative Care Day (World Day). What started as ‘Voices for Hospice’ concerts around the world turned into a day to recognise hospice and palliative care starting in 2005. Having a day each year to recognise the importance of hospice and palliative care is a valuable part of every health care movement, and is essential for advocacy and awareness raising.
World Palliative Care Day is organised by the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance and the Shepherds Hospice in Sierra Leone, each second Saturday in October, this year on Saturday 11 October 2025, on behalf of the global palliative care community, including international, national, and regional palliative care organisations.
Each year, a different theme is chosen to highlight a specific aspect of palliative care or to challenge myths or misconceptions about palliative care. Last year was the 10th anniversary of the passage of the World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution on palliative care, and the theme Ten Years Since the Resolution: How are we doing? was an opportunity to look at how much or how little progress was made in the decade. This year’s theme, Achieving the Promise: Universal Access to Palliative Care, builds on last year’s to explore what is needed in the coming 5-10 years to build toward universal access to palliative care, especially as part of universal health coverage.
The subthemes this year are:
- Empowering people and compassionate communities
- Implement palliative care policies to improve access
- Integrate palliative care fully into healthcare systems through UHC
Palliative care integration into UHC strengthens health system efficiency and patient outcomes. According to the World Health Organization, integrating palliative care into UHC ensures continuity of care, improves patient satisfaction, and reduces unnecessary hospitalisations and costs. Health systems with integrated palliative care reduce intensive care use at the end of life, promoting both patient dignity and cost-effective care.
Furthermore, integrating palliative care into healthcare systems is integral to the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), including financial risk protection. Further access to quality essential healthcare services and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines for all are essential. The Ministry of Health and key stakeholders need to realise the urgent need to include palliation across the continuum of care, especially at the primary care level, recognising that inadequate integration of palliative care into health and social care systems is a major contributing factor to the lack of equitable access to such care.
Everyone deserves the best care possible, regardless of who they are or where they live in the world. Palliative care is yet to be fully integrated into the healthcare system of most countries, especially the low and middle-income countries (LMICs). In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the challenges faced in the healthcare system. While most of the need for palliative care is being met in high-income countries, only about 4% of the need is being met in LMICs.
We have involved people with lived experience (PWLE) of palliative care in planning for and delivering events. PWLE are our most impactful speakers and representatives to advocate for palliative care and include those who are or were receiving palliative care, caregivers, and bereaved family members. When looking for PWLE we caution not to use our relationship with them to impose on them to advocate, but to seek out those who wish to give back by sharing their experiences.
This year, our KEY ASK is Full Integration of Palliative Care into Health Systems in the Next Five Years. Don’t let palliative care progress fall behind. Ensure that the palliative care resolution is effectively realised over the next decade. Demand that governments include palliative care and relief of suffering in their plans for universal health coverage.
Why do we need WHPCD? Palliative Care is a major unmet need across the world. Our work with the World Health Organization (WHO) on the Global Atlas of Palliative Care showed that only 14% of the over 73 million adults and children in need of palliative care services, receive it. Some 20 million people die every year in pain and suffering due to a lack of access to palliative care and pain relief. Palliative care development should follow the public health model developed by the WHO that emphasises policy, education, medication availability, community empowerment, research, and implementation. There are many barriers to achieving each of these components.
World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is a vital opportunity to raise awareness and mobilise support for palliative care from communities and the Government of Sierra Leone.
Specific 2025 statistics for patients needing palliative care in Sierra Leone are not available, but it can be estimated that a significant number of individuals require it, given the high disease burden from both infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases. The country’s health system is still developing, and like many other nations, majority of those needing palliative care likely do not receive it.
We can be reached in Macdonald, Waterloo and Lower Allentown, Freetown