GAPRI
The Global Access to Pain Relief Initiative (GAPRI) is a joint programme of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) to make effective pain control measures universally available to cancer patients in pain by 2020, in line with Target 8 of the World Cancer Declaration.
Tens of millions of people worldwide lack access to adequate pain relief, even though morphine, the most effective treatment for severe pain, is safe, effective, plentiful, inexpensive, and easy-to-use. Legal and regulatory restrictions, cultural misperceptions about pain, inadequate training of healthcare providers a poorly functioning market, generally weak health systems, and concerns about diversion, addiction, and abuse create a web of barriers that force millions of people to live and die with treatable pain. Access to pain treatment is particularly limited in low and middle-income countries where approximately 70% of cancer deaths and 99% of HIV deaths in the world occur, but just 6% of the opioid analgesics are consumed.
