Scandal of 98 states with no proper care for the dying

Almost half the countries in the world have no provision for palliative care, new research has shown.

The Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance (WPCA) study found 98 of the world’s 234 countries – or 42 per cent – did not have a hospice or palliative care services available to seriously ill people and their families and carers.

They included Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Laos and Senegal.

Eighty per cent of the world’s population live in countries with no or low access to medications to treat moderate to severe pain.

The WPCA said the report raised fresh concerns that too many people across the world were living and dying without adequate care, support and pain relief.

It called for palliative care to be accessible to everyone facing a serious life-threatening illness, including the growing number of people living with non-infectious diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

The report found there had been some progress in the past five years, particularly in the development of services in Africa.

Professor David Clark, from the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Glasgow, one of the report’s co-authors, said: “We are encouraged that there has been a marked increase in the number of services in operation, from 10,000 in 2006 to 16,000 in 2011.

“But we are very concerned that only 20 countries globally – that’s just 8.5 per cent – provide palliative care services that are fully integrated with wider health services. Progress is modest and slow.”

Globally, an estimated 100 million patients and family care-givers would benefit from hospice and palliative care.