The new WHO Guidelines for the management of chronic pain in children includes 10 best practice statements which apply to all aspects of the clinical care of a child with chronic pain, including the planning, implementation and delivery of physical, psychological and pharmacological interventions for pain relief in children aged 0-19 years. Children with chronic pain, their families and caregivers must be cared for from a biopsychosocial perspective—recognizing pain as a complex multidimensional experience resulting from biological, psychological and social factors—instead of only treating pain as a biomedical problem.

 

Nearly one-quarter to one-third of children experience chronic pain, usually from long-term conditions – such as cancer, sickle-cell disease, diabetes and arthritis. The management may include the use of morphine for end-of-life-care or palliative care when chronic pain is associated with life-limiting conditions. 

 

The guideline highlights the importance of opioid stewardship – a series of strategies and interventions involving the appropriate procurement, storage, prescribing and use of opioids, as well as the disposal of unused opioids when opioids are appropriately prescribed, to address worldwide concerns about harms arising from misuse of these medicines. 

 

Furthermore, it was suggested that care for children with chronic pain must be child- and family-centered and included in all universal health coverage schemes. The guideline supports Member States and their partners to develop and implement national and local policies, regulations, pain management protocols and best practices for pain relief. This guideline replaces the discontinued “WHO guidelines on the pharmacological treatment of persisting pain in children with medical illnesses” (2012).

 

Source: 1 February 2021. Departmental news. https://www.who.int/