article
Improving the availability and accessibility of opioids for the treatment of pain: the International Pain Policy Fellowship
Date
2011-05-24Registration in:
10.1007/s00520-011-1200-2
Institutions
Abstract
Opioid analgesics are simultaneously indispensable
medicines for the treatment of moderate to severe pain
and are harmful when abused. The challenge for governments
is to balance the obligation to prevent diversion,
trafficking, and abuse of opioids with the equally important
obligation to ensure their availability and accessibility for
the relief of pain and suffering. Over the last 30 years,
significant progress has been made toward improving
access to opioids as measured by increasing global medical
opioid consumption. However, this progress is marked by
ongoing large disparities among countries, with most
increases in medical opioid consumption attributed to
high-income countries, not low- and middle-income
countries (LMICs). The International Pain Policy Fellowship
(IPPF) was developed by the Pain & Policy Studies
Group, with the central goal of developing national leaders
from LMICs and empowering them to improve availability
and accessibility of opioids for the treatment of pain. To
date, two classes of fellows have been selected, representing
17 fellows from 15 countries. Progress achieved by the
leadership of three fellows from Sierra Leone, Colombia,
and Serbia is highlighted in this paper. The fellows from
each country were successful at initiating collaboration with
relevant governmental bodies, national authorities, and
professional societies, which resulted in a new supply of
oral opioids in Sierra Leone and Serbia, and improvements
in the distribution of already available opioids in Colombia.
All fellows were instrumental in facilitating evaluation of
national policy. The IPPF program empowers fellows with
the necessary knowledge, skills, and guidance to improve
the availability and accessibility of opioids for the treatment
of pain.