African health ministers discuss ways to achieve universal access to palliative care
Health ministers and other officials from about 40 African countries on Tuesday started a four-day meeting here to discuss cost-effective interventions to ensure universal access to palliative care.
Health ministers and other officials from about 40 African countries on Tuesday started a four-day meeting here to discuss cost-effective interventions to ensure universal access to palliative care.
The 6th International Palliative Care Conference themed “Palliative Care and Universal Health Coverage” is held in Rwandan capital Kigali on Sept. 17-20. It is co-hosted by the African Palliative Care Association and Rwanda’s Ministry of Health.
The palliative care improves life quality of patients who face life-threatening illness, Rwandan Minister of State in Charge of Public Health and Primary Health Care Patrick Ndimubanzi told journalists after opening the meeting.
Besides the provision of drugs, the treatment also involves relief of pain and addresses other problems which may be physical, psychosocial or spiritual, he added.
Rwanda has made significant progress in integrating palliative care into universal health coverage, whereby health insurance subscribers pay 10-15 percent of medical fees as co-payment, and palliative care services in the country are defined at all levels from community to university teaching hospitals, said Ndimubanzi.
Each year, an estimated 40 million people are in need of palliative care worldwide, 78 percent of whom live in low- and middle-income countries, according to figures published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2018.
For children, 98 percent of those needing palliative care live in low- and middle-income countries with almost half of them living in Africa, according to the WHO.
