Our discussion on HIFA is looking primarily at the problems of opioid misuse and addiction, but we welcome comments also on lack of access to opioid drugs for those who need them.
The current issue of The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health (May 2026) has a review article on controlled medicines for children's medical needs
CITATION: Controlled medicines for children's medical needs: a review of the scope, determinants, and consequences of inequitable access
ReviewVolume 10, Issue 5p364-377May 2026
Brandon Maser, MDa,b Kate Lawler, BScc ∙ Ximena García-Quintero, MDd ∙ Prof Doralina Anghelescu, MD†,d ∙ Nahla Gafer, MDe,f ∙ Hammoda Abu-Odah, PhDg ∙ et al.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00374-8/fulltext
'Although research on access to controlled medicines for children is scarce, what is available suggests extremely poor access to all controlled medicines for children in LMICs. Estimates suggest that less than 8% of individuals worldwide have access to opioids needed for pain and palliative care.'
I would like to invite comments on opioid access for children in pain. What is the situation in your country? I have looked at a few websites and the WHO website notes: 'Each year an estimated 56.8 million people are in need of palliative care, most of whom live in low- and middle-income countries. For children, 98% of those needing palliative care live in low- and middle-income countries with almost half of them living in Africa.' Other sources suggest that in any one year, 10 million children have severe pain-related suffering without access to opioid drugs. At any given moment it appears that perhaps millions, or at least hundreds of thousands, of children around the world are suffering pain avoidably due to lack of access to opioid drugs. Also, in many countries access to opioid drugs is even more restricted for children than it is for adults.
I would welcome your inputs on this topic.
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org