Children’s Palliative Care and Human Rights

Palliative care for children with life-limiting illness is the active total care of the child’s body, mind, and spirit. It seeks to control all forms of suffering related to the illness including pain and involves social, psychological, spiritual, and legal support to siblings, parents, and other close family members.

Effective palliative care for children requires health professionals trained to assess symptoms, to care for children of different ages and developmental stages, and to provide medicines in pediatric formulations. 

This fact sheet examines the global need for children’s palliative care, the recognition of children’s palliative care under international human rights laws, and what steps governments should take to promote, protect, and ensure access to care.