On March 30, representatives from major religions and palliative care organizations gathered to address the pressing need for palliative care for older people. The goal of the meeting,  held under the auspices of the Vatican Pontifical Academy for Life, was to create a draft charter on palliative care for the aging population.

The authors of the document state that: “We believe that everyone involved in the care of these persons, as well as governments, policy makers and spiritual and religious leaders, should engage with and advance the awareness, development, promotion, improvement and dissemination of Palliative Care for older persons in order that these persons and their families in all parts of the world have access to Palliative Care.”

Participants divided into four groups to draft sections of the charter including: 1) Spiritual & Religious Perspectives; 2) Clinical Perspectives; 3) Human Rights Perspectives; and 4) Patients’ and Families’ Perspectives. The leaders of the groups then met to come up with a full draft that was reviewed with all attendees and modified until consensus was reached. Following this, all the attendees signed the charter.

Click here for a full recap of the event.

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