Serious health-related suffering and palliative care in South Asian countries
Ashwin Nambiar, Smriti Rana and M. R. Rajagopal point out in the Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care: Serious health-related suffering and palliative care in South Asian countries
- 9.9 million people are in unrelieved Serious Health-related Suffering (SHS) in South Asian Countries due to lack of access to pain relief and palliative care, inappropriate EOLC and catastrophic health expenditure.
- Most South Asian countries do not have palliative care included in their health systems.
- In countries in which palliative care has been included as part of healthcare, implementation gaps impede access.
- Effective policies, programs and implementation, demonstration of successful initiatives, encouraging community and civil society participation and awareness, opioid access, palliative care education, institution of end-of-life care policies and need based research, together can relieve SHS at a low-cost.
View the video abstract: http://links.lww.com/COSPC/A30