Palliative care services are seriously lacking in Africa. Nineteen percent of African countries do not have identified palliative services and 71 percent of the services that do exist are concentrated in Uganda, South Africa, and Kenya.

The HIV epidemic played a driving role in developing palliative care services and resources in many countries in Africa, with initial funding in HIV helping to boost hospices and palliative care services on the continent. However, a decrease in funding as well as a move away from vertical, disease-specific funding to horizontal, health systems funding is negatively affecting palliative care service delivery and development in many countries across the continent.

New research shows that while palliative care developed rapidly in South Africa through funding available for HIV, the proliferation of earmarked funds for hospices mean programs are often only allowed to care for patients with HIV that had palliative needs. This is the same in other countries, such as Côte d’Ivoire, where the majority of hospice services are only available for HIV patients. Currently, hospices are seeing non-HIV patients through funds provided by private donors in addition to public funds and grants. This interplay between HIV and palliative care reflects the short- and long-term benefits, as well as harm, that earmarked global aid can play in the health care systems of recipient countries.

Read the full article about Africa's need for palliative care investments by John Rhee and Dr. Emmanuel Luyirika at Devex International Development.