International pain experts gather here Nov. 22-24

While the number of new cancer cases worldwide is expected to double in the next 20 years, medications that could effectively treat pain due to cancer are still not available to cancer patients in most parts of the world. A 1995 survey by a United Nations agency found that less than half of the world’s cancer hospitals had stocks of morphine.

A 1995 survey by a United Nations agency found that less than half of the world’s cancer hospitals had stocks of morphine.

To encourage governments to remove barriers to the availability of pain medication, the Pain and Policy Studies Group (PPSG) of the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center (UWCCC) is hosting a work group of international experts in cancer pain relief and narcotic regulation. The World Health Organization has asked the experts to come to Madison to review guidelines prepared by the PPSG to encourage governments worldwide to identify and correct barriers to the availability of pain medications such as morphine.

“The world health community has long known that inadequate management of cancer pain is a serious public health problem that could be corrected if relatively simple treatments are made available,” says David Joranson, director of the PPSG. “There is a treatment gap – the difference between what can be done and what is done about cancer pain. One of the ways to narrow that gap is to make sure that government policies ensure that pain medications in the class of morphine are available, according to international treaties.”

Tokuo Yoshida of the WHO, Geneva, Switzerland, is sponsoring the meeting along with the UW Pain and Policy Studies Group, which has been designated as a WHO Collaborating Center for Policy and Communications in Cancer Care. The experts attending the meeting include:

• Carmen Selva, UN International Narcotics Control Board, Austria
• R. Bhattacharji, Narcotics Commissioner, India
• Dr. Claudio Blengini, member of the special Committee of the Italian Ministry of Health, Italy
• Liliana DeLima, consultant for Pan American Health Organization, Colombia
• Dr. Philip Emafo, UN International Narcotics Control Board and former drug regulator, Nigeria
• Gu Wei-ping, Director of Drug Safety and Inspections, People’s Republic of China
• Dr. Alan Nixon, Head of Palliative Care Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Saudi Arabia

“The meeting will produce the first set of criteria that can be used by governments to evaluate whether their national narcotic control laws are ‘balanced,’ – that they are consistent with the landmark international treaty which requires countries to have laws which not only prohibit trafficking in narcotic drugs, but also ensure their availability for medical purposes.”