HEALTHCARE FOCUS BY JESSIE TAYLOR
WORLD HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE CARE DAY:
The need for holistic support throughout illness
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ess than 20% of people who need palliative care can access it in South Africa. It’s an essential part of managing a life-threatening illness, allowing patients and families to approach the end of life prepared and supported. For this reason, organisations such as the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa (HPCA) are offering education to healthcare professionals to ensure that patients are cared for throughout their illness. Living life fully despite illness World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is commemorated annually on 8 October and serves as a day to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care worldwide. The day acknowledges the importance of palliative care and campaigns for everyone to have access to it. Palliative care provides holistic
care to patients who have been diagnosed with a lifethreatening or life-limiting illness. This care helps them live their lives as fully and comfortably as possible and often includes treating physical, emotional, spiritual or social symptoms. South African human rights and social justice activist Mark Heywood explains: “Palliative care is an integral and essential human right. It is linked to dignity and should be part of the continuum of healthcare and not an optional add on or a luxury for a health system. However, palliative care is still primarily an NGO function that reaches less than 20% of people who need it in South Africa.” South Africa’s shortage of palliative care facilities is not unusual – around the world, access to this support is limited. Based on statistics from the
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World Health Organisation, around 40 million people need palliative care every year. But globally, only about 14% of people in need of palliative care receive it.
We are committed to growing the reach of palliative care within South Africa Far-reaching effects of the pandemic But those able to access palliative care on home soil may even decrease, as the pandemic has severely impacted the sector. Around 14 hospices have closed down due to a lack of funding since the start of the pandemic. In South Africa, hospices provide support to more than 100 000 patients with a terminal illness and their families every year.
