The authors remind readers that: “Global development, strengthening of health systems, and an increase in access to treatments will improve health outcomes. However, the global need for palliative and end-of-life care will persist. As populations age and societies industrialise, the number of people who will need palliative care to manage the problems associated with chronic progressive illness, especially cancer, are predicted to increase in low-income and middle-income countries. This increase is compounded by late presentation to medical services and restricted access to potentially curative options.”
They emphasize the importance of locally generated evidence, if strategies to provide palliative care are to succeed, and argue that: “the evidence base for palliative care has been mostly generated in high-income countries; however, evidence specific to low-income and middle-income countries has started to be developed.”
Read the editorial on The Lancet website.
Leave a Reply