What is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day?

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is a unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world.The theme for World Day 2008 which will take place on October 11th is "Hospice and palliative care: a human right."

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day takes place on the second Saturday of October every year and Voices for Hospices takes place on the same date every two years. Future dates are:

• October 11th 2008 – World Hospice and Palliative Care Day
• October 10th 2009 – World Hospice and Palliative Care Day with Voices for Hospices

What are the aims of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day?

• To share our vision to increase the availability of hospice and palliative care throughout the world by creating opportunities to speak out about the issues
• To raise awareness and understanding of the needs – medical, social, practical, spiritual – of people living with terminal diagnosis and their families.
• To raise funds to support and develop hospice and palliative care services around the world.

Who organises World Hospice and Palliative Care Day?

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is organised by a committee of the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance, a network of hospice and palliative care national and regional organisations that support the development of hospice and palliative care worldwide. To view members of the organising committee, go to http://www.worldday.org/partners.asp.

What has happened on previous World Hospice and Palliative Care Days?

Every year approximately 70 countries take part in the celebrations with activities including public awareness raising campaigns, advocacy with policy makers, fundraising events and public launches.
Activities that took place in 2007 included the launch of the World Health Organization module on palliative care.

Find out more about previous World Hospice and Palliative Care Days.

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2007.

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2006.

For more information, about World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2005, please read the evaluation
Executive summary
Full evaluation

To view photographs from previous events, go to the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day and Voices for Hospices photo library at: www.worldday.dk

Who can get involved?

The day is for anyone and everyone who cares about or is involved in hospice and palliative care anywhere in the world. If you are an organisation or an individual, with or without experience of hospice and palliative care, you can do something to support hospice and palliative care worldwide.

How can you get involved in World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2008?

To get involved with World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, visit the Get involved page. This gives you ideas and suggestions on what you can do on the day to support people living with life-limiting illnesses and their families.

Contact us

Please contact the organisers for any information or queries that you may have on worldday@helpthehospices.org.uk or call +44(0)207 520 8250.

About hospice and palliative care around the world