Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries (DCP3) -- Volume 6: Cancer --- Chapter on Palliative Care

Today, most people dying from cancer in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) die in pain because they lack access to inexpensive opioid medicines—the bedrock of palliative care--that can provide relief in most cases. These medicines are absent not because of cost or the lack of other resources, but for lack of political will to ensure their provision in the face of concerns about diversion to illicit use. This chapter reviews the need for palliative care, describes barriers to access and recent progress in LMICs and summarizes its economic aspects.