Abstract
Given the high unmet need for palliative care in Africa and other resource limited settings, it is important that countries embrace the public health approach to increasing access through its integration within existing healthcare systems. To give this approach a strong foundation that would ensure sustainability, the World Health Organisation urges member states to ensure that policy environments are suitable for this intervention. The development, strengthening, and implementation of national palliative care policies is a priority. Given the lack of a critical mass of palliative care professionals in the region and deficiency in documenting and sharing best practices as part of information critical for regional development, policy development becomes a complex process. This article shares experiences with regard to best practices when advocating the national palliative care policies. It also tells about policy development process, the important considerations, and cites examples of policy content outlines in Africa.
Highlights
In the majority of African countries, most provision for palliation is from isolated centres of excellence without comprehensive integration into the different levels of the health system structure using palliative care teams as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) [4], and this arrangement cannot support equitable access to all those in need
Palliative care policy development commits governments to bring back palliative care both as a discipline and as a service package of health care that it must deliver. This is happening in a situation where much of palliative care has been provided by NGOs
In addition this becomes a first step for government to start committing resources, little to palliative care delivery
Summary
There is an increase in the need for palliative care in Africa, given the increasing disease burden from both communicable and noncommunicable diseases [1]. The national situation analysis and national palliative care policy should be aligned with the WHO six core components (building blocks) of health systems: (i) leadership/governance; (ii) service delivery; (iii) health workforce; (iv) health information systems; (v) access to essential medicines, and (vi) financing [12] These should be aligned with the WHO public health strategy for effectively integrating palliative care into a country’s system which addresses four key pillars: (i) appropriate policies; (ii) adequate drug availability; (iii) education of policy makers, health care workers and the public, and (iv) implementation of palliative care services at all levels throughout the society [5].
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