Inequities of palliative care availability and access to opioids in low- and middle-income countries

Abstract

Fourteen years ago in a Palliative Medicine Editorial, Clemens et al. declared:

‘. . .the improvement of care for the critically ill and the dying remains a political challenge and an ethical imperative in low-income regions across the world, and it will need the untiring commitment of the world community to make it happen’.1

In 2021, palliative care provision for people living in low- and middle-income countries remains woefully inadequate; and the number of people who will die with unnecessary suffering is projected to increase significantly in coming decades. Gross inequities in access to opioids and palliative care availability exist throughout the world.