The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released its first guide on planning palliative care services for people living with advanced stages of cancer.
The guide, which is based on consultations with more than 70 leading cancer experts in the world, has identified highly effective low-cost public health models to care for terminally ill cancer patients, especially in developing countries.
The guide Palliative care: cancer control knowledge into action, WHO guide for effective programmes was launched on the occasion of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (6 October).
Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing life-threatening illness by providing pain relief and management of other distressing and debilitating symptoms. Palliative care services are appropriate from the time of diagnosis of a life-threatening illness and throughout the course of the illness. Preliminary estimates show that each year, 4.8 million people who suffer from moderate to severe pain caused by cancer do not receive treatment.
"Everyone has a right to be treated, and die, with dignity. The relief of pain - physical, emotional, spiritual and social - is a human right," said Dr Catherine Le Galès-Camus, WHO Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health. "Palliative care is an urgent need worldwide for people living with advanced stages of cancer, particularly in developing countries, where a high proportion of people with cancer are diagnosed when treatment is no longer effective."
Guidance for public health planners
The new guide is aimed primarily at public health planners. It provides guidance on how to conduct a national situation analysis and response review, mapping the burden of cancers in advanced stages against palliative care services available, and recommending plans for low-cost public health models to close any gaps.