AFRO-NETS> How do people in Africa want to die?

[Dieter Neuvians MD <neuvians@mweb.co.za>]

How do people in Africa want to die?
------------------------------------
 
British Medical Journal No 7408 Volume 327
 
A good death in Uganda: survey of needs for palliative care for ter-
minally ill people in urban areas
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7408/192
 
Quality care at the end of life in Africa
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7408/209
 
Terminally ill people in Africa want to die at home without pain, 
stigma, or financial hardship. Yet two articles in this week's BMJ 
show how poverty, limited healthcare services, and poor access to 
pain relief are major barriers to improving end of life care.
 
In the first study, terminally ill patients in Uganda believe a "good 
death" occurs at home, in the absence of pain and other distressing 
symptoms, without stigma, and with adequate finances for the basic 
needs.
 
However, in reality, most terminally ill people experience financial 
hardship, says Ekiria Kikule of Hospice Africa.
 
In the second study, members of a WHO project to improve palliative 
care in Africa find that the greatest needs of terminally ill pa-
tients were for adequate pain relief, accessible and affordable 
drugs, and financial support.
 
Terminal illness often causes family financial crisis because of loss 
of income from both patient and family caregiver, write the authors.
 
Special emphasis should be given to home based palliative care pro-
vided by trained family and community caregivers to counteract the 
severe shortage of professional healthcare workers, they conclude.
 
Contacts:
 
Ekiria Kikule
Hospice Africa (Uganda)
Kampala,Uganda
mailto:ekikule@hospiceafrica.or.ug
 
Cecilia Sepulveda, Programme on Cancer Control,
World Health Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland
mailto:sepulvedac@who.int
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