information for practice

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."