Access to Controlled Medicines During COVID-19: meeting the needs of patients around the world

Organized by Belgium with the support of Australia, Canada, El Salvador, France, Lithuania, the Russian Federation, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and the UNODC Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section, the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care, the International Narcotics Control Board, the Union for Cancer Control, the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs and the World Health Organization 

This side event will highlight the complex issues that must be addressed as we move forward in an effort to ensure that all persons have access to quality healthcare services that include controlled drugs for medical purposes, even in the most challenging conditions such as the current global pandemic. Speakers will highlight the importance of capacity building of health staff around the world and the urgent need to raise the awareness of patients and the general public about the issue of access to controlled medicines. Lessons learned will discussed both from the challenge of the global pandemic and from past work in the field.