Title:Palliative Care in High and Low Resource Countries
Volume: 17
Issue: 3
Author(s): Rejin Kebudi*, Fatma Betul Cakir and Michael Silbermann
Affiliation:
- Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Istanbul University, Oncology Institute, Istanbul,Turkey
Keywords:
Palliative care, pediatric palliative care, pain management, human development index, individualized care planning,
coordination.
Abstract: Palliative Care (PC) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a support
provided by multiple disciplines in order to improve the quality of life of both patients and their
caregivers, throughout the disease course, from diagnosis to end-of-life. PC aims to prevent and
treat symptoms and side effects of the disease and its treatment. PC is well developed in most high-
-income countries; however in most low-income settings, where approximately 80% of patients
with cancer requiring PC care for advanced disease live, PC services are still uncommon. Health indicators
monitoring global PC development are policy, education, use of medicines, service provision
and professional activity. Globally, PC development may be categorized as Group 1 (no
known hospice-PC activity), Group 2 (capacity-building activity), Groups 3a Isolated PC provided,
3b Generalized PC provided, 4a hospice-PC services at a stage of integration into regular service
provision, and 4b hospice-PC services at a stage of advanced integration into regular service provision.
Spirituality is an essential element of patient-centered PC. The use of Complementary and
Traditional Medicine (CTM) in Middle Eastern countries is widespread. There are wide discrepancies
in cancer care and PC in many regions of the world. The Individualized Care Planning and Coordination
(ICPC) Model is designed to facilitate the advance care planning with continuity of all
the measures like symptom control or emotional, social and spiritual care of both the patient and
the family during the disease steps like relapse or end of life.