ESMO-led collaborative opioid survey published today

Thursday, 28 November - Results from the Global Opioid Policy Initiative (GOPI) project have just been published in Annals of Oncology and reveal that due to a lack of access to inexpensive and effective essential opioids more than 4 billion people (that is, over half the world population) live in countries where regulatory barriers leave cancer patients suffering excruciating pain.

“National governments must take urgent action to improve access to these medicines,” says the European Society for Medical Oncology, leader of a group of 22 partners including UICC.

“The next step is for international and national organisations working alongside governments and regulators to thoughtfully address the problems,” agree the two lead authors of the study, Nathan Cherny, Chair of the ESMO Palliative Care Working Group, and James Cleary, Director of the Pain and Policy Studies Group in Wisconsin, USA.
 
Take a look at the survey results for your country here.
Get more advocacy resources here.
Watch video interview with UICC past president, Eduardo Cazap, here.