Why do we need palliative care?

In several studies, palliative care has been proven to provide many benefits to the patient. Patients exposed to palliative care tend to experience a higher overall quality of life, better mood, greater autonomy and less stress.

In a randomised clinical trial, patients with lung or gastrointestinal cancer who were assigned to early palliative care had a higher quality of life and less depression. Also, in a separate study, palliative care proved to relieve pain and, to a smaller extent, anxiety and confusion, among older patients during their final week of life in nursing homes.

In addition, palliative care focuses on the caregivers, as much as the patients. Often, the closest caregivers, such as families and friends, suffer from accumulated stress and burnouts after long periods of caring for a terminally ill loved one. Palliative care seeks to provide caregivers with medical, social, emotional and practical support as well.

Poor access to palliative care Unfortunately, in spite of its growing popularity, access to palliative care has been poor. Today, only about 14% of people worldwide who need palliative care currently receive it. Most countries have also yet to include palliative care in their national health policies and systems, and proper training on palliative care for health professionals has been limited across the world.

Despite the less-than-optimistic statistics and reports, we should not be discouraged. The good news is that more organisations are starting to realise that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to caring for people living with terminal illnesses.