Access to palliative and supportive care in the Philippines: A call to action

Abstract

Palliative and supportive care need is increasing in the Philippines due to rising mortality rate and noncommunicable diseases in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic (Corpuz 2023). The Philippines' palliative care is expected to rise due to increased prevalence of chronic diseases, increasing awareness, an aging population, government support, and technological advancements (Corpuz 2023). In the absence of a professional palliative care team, the immediate family serves as the caregiver of the dying patient. Culture, religions/traditions, and beliefs play an important role in every Filipino's life and death (Nambayan and Lu 2015). In far-flung areas like barrios or sitios, access to palliative care has been hindered by several factors such as the unavailability of pain medications and other treatments, expensive palliative care in hospitals, lack of proper guidelines, lack of government priority on palliative care, and a socio-cultural belief system that considers palliative and supportive care as nonessential (Poudel et al. 2019). This essay aims to contribute to literature on the need to integrate palliative care and supportive care in hospitals and hospices in the Philippine context.Palliative and supportive focus on 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 (Breitbart 2019; WHO 2020). Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, Sleeman et al. ( 2019) report the first worldwide projection of future global burden of serious health-related suffering: "By 2060, an estimated 48 million people (47% of all deaths globally) will die each year with serious health-related suffering, and 83% of these deaths will occur in low-income and middle-income countries. " The World Health Organization (WHO 2020) estimated that 56.8 million people, including 25.7 million in the last year of life, are in need of palliative care.Access to such care is a fundamental human right, yet disparities in access persist globally, particularly in resource-limited settings (Breitbart 2008). In the context of palliative care, these rights extend beyond the right to health and include patient rights to freedom from torture, cruel and inhuman treatment, nondiscrimination and equality, bodily integrity, privacy and confidentiality, information, and right to a remedy (Barros de Luca et al. 2017). The Philippines, an archipelago in Southeast Asia, is home to over 110 million people and faces unique challenges in delivering palliative and supportive care services across its diverse population. Ho et al. ( 2023) found that a limited palliative care workforce, high out-of-pocket health-care costs, and low opioid availability all hinder access to palliative care in the Philippines. In addition, religious fatalism, strong family-ties, and physician reluctance to refer to palliative care providers represent contributory sociocultural factors. Breitbart (2019) opines that there is a need for novel interventions in pall...

HIV epidemic in the Philippines: A multisectoral collaboration

“…2 The Philippine Department of Health should integrate HIV services into primary healthcare systems from barrio clinics to municipal level hospitals to reduce the separation between general healthcare and HIV care. 5 This includes training healthcare professionals in HIV diagnosis, treatment, and counseling. 3 In conclusion, the HIVAIDS epidemic in the Philippines is a public health concern.…”