Advocacy

Advocacy is an important part of the IASP mission to support the study of pain and to translate that knowledge into improved pain relief worldwide. The Association's activities range from conducting the Global Year Against Pain campaign to supporting projects managed by other organizations.

Global Year Against Pain

IASP sponsors and promotes the Global Year Against Pain, a yearlong initiative designed to raise international awareness of pain. Each year, IASP focuses on a different aspect of pain that has global implications. The focus for the 2011-2012 campaign, which launched on October 17, 2011, is Headache. The theme for 2012-2013 will be Visceral Pain. Read More >

Declaration of Montréal

During the inaugural International Pain Summit on September 3, 2010, delegates discussed and proposed changes to the Declaration of Montréal, a document which calls for pain relief to be recognized as a basic human right. The document was approved by the IASP Council in October 2010, and has been since endorsed by hundreds of organizations and individuals around the world. View the full text of the Declaration here.

Desirable Characteristics of National Pain Strategies

Delegates to the first International Pain Summit also worked together to develop guidance for members, governments, and nongovernmental organizations working in both developed and developing nations who seek to improve pain care. Read the full text of those guidelines here.

Other Projects

IASP supports advocacy efforts by other organizations whose missions reflect IASP values.

LIFE Before Death

The LIFE Before Death campaign aims to raise awareness of the global crisis of untreated pain and other end-of-life issues. The project consists of 50 short films, a feature-length documentary, and a television special. Read More >

Morphine Manifesto

In conjunction with World Cancer Day 2012 (February 4, 2012), Pallium India, the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, and the Pain & Policy Studies Group / WHO Collaborating Center at the University of Wisconsin have released a Morphine Manifesto. IASP and other leading organizations and foundations from around the world have signed this manifesto, which calls for an end to the unethical practice of promoting access to expensive opioid analgesics without also making available low cost immediate release oral morphine. Read More >