Palliative Care Works is a small UK based charity of a consortium of experienced health and social care professionals engaged in education, training and mentoring in the field of palliative care, particularly in low and middle income countries. Its work is generally funded by other charities, government departments and international organisations.
“Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients and that of their families who are facing challenges associated with life threatening illness, whether physical, psychological, social or spiritual. The quality of life of caregivers improves as well. • Each year, an estimated 40 million people are in need of palliative care; 78% of them people live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) • Worldwide, only about 14% of people who need palliative care currently receive it. • Unnecessarily restrictive regulations for morphine and other essential controlled palliative medicines deny access to adequate palliative care. • Adequate national policies, programmes, resources, and training on palliative care among health professionals are urgently needed in order to improve access. • The global need for palliative care will continue to grow as a result of the ageing of populations and the rising burden of noncommunicable diseases and some communicable diseases. • Early delivery of palliative care reduces unnecessary hospital admissions and the use of health services." (WHO 2020). Palliative Care Works supports the vision of the WHO that everyone who needs palliative care globally will have access to this type of care.
