Pain control in the African context: the Ugandan introduction of affordable morphine to relieve suffering at the end of life.

ABSTRACT: Dr Anne Merriman is the founder of Hospice Africa and Hospice Africa Uganda. She is presently Director of Policy and International Programmes. Here she tells the story of how HAU was founded. Dr Richard Harding is an academic researcher working on palliative care in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper described Dr Merriman's experience in pioneering palliative care provision. In particular it examines the steps to achieving wider availability of opioids for pain management for those with far advanced disease. Hospice Africa Uganda has been a model facility in achieving high quality clinical care embedded in a strategy of advocacy and education, using a multifaceted approach that has addressed logistical, policy and legislative barriers. Until 1990 control of severe pain in Sub-Saharan Africa wa

SUBMITTER: Merriman A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2914675 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature