About World Hospice and Palliative Care Day

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. Voices for Hospices is a wave of concerts taking place on World Hospice and Palliative Care Day every two years.

What is this year's theme?

The theme for 2016 is LIVING AND DYING IN PAIN: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO HAPPEN

When does World Hospice and Palliative Care Day take place?

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.

The next World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is on October 8th 2016

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day with Voices for Hospice will be held October 14th in 2017

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 a life limiting illness 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 our partners page. 

What can you do to get involved?

There are many things you can do during and in the days leading up to World Hospice and Palliative Care Day. 

Download the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day posters to print out and display in your place of work and community. You can download the original version, or a version with space to add your organisation's logo. 

Organise a World Hospice and Palliative Care Day event. Remember to add your event to the map of events around the world. You can also download a poster with space to advertise your event.

You can also download a model letter to send to your Minister of Health, reminding them of their commitment to palliative care and access to controlled medicines for pain relief as part of the national healthcare system.

Key Messages 

You can access the Key Messages for World Hospice and Palliative Care Day in the Resources area.