Palliative care is a holistic approach to health for individuals with serious illnesses such as cancer or heart failure and those near the end of life. The goal is to organize care to improve the understanding of treatment options, symptoms, and quality of life for patients, their families, and caregivers.
Access to palliative care and pain relief is limited among vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, and in many low- and middle-income countries. The World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent of the global population lacks access to adequate treatments for pain. Fifty percent of the world’s poorest populations live in countries that receive only one percent of the global distribution of opioids.
Policies should be formulated to ensure elderly access to palliative care services, adequate pain relief, and quality end-of-life care. These are essential to any efforts toward universal health coverage and SDG3.