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Palliation

By 2030, it is estimated that there will be over 26 million incident cases of cancer annually. More than half of cancer cases will be diagnosed occur in low income nations, where 80% or more of patients will have incurable disease at diagnosis. Based on these statistics, palliative care will remain the most important intervention in oncology worldwide.  In situations where curative treatment is logistically unavailable, as is the case in many low income countries, then the allocation of resources should reflect  a greater emphasis on palliative care while the infrastructure and facilities and capacity building for prevention, early detection and curative treatment are being developed. Yet, access to palliative care is closely related to quality of the health care system. Additional barriers to such care may result from low prioritization of palliative care in health care policy and in healthcare education. Where the need for care is widespread; the supply of care may be further restricted if cure is pursued at all costs as the predominant treatment strategy. The WHO expert committee on cancer pain and palliative care report of 1990 called for integration of efforts directed at maintaining patient quality of life through all stages of cancer treatment, as factors causing patient distress exist from the time of diagnosis onward. As a result, supportive interventions aimed at improving quality of life are needed concurrently with efforts to control the underlying cancer. This holds true for patients undergoing both curative and palliative anti-cancer treatments.