Hotspots and black holes:

African palliative care, mapped

Which countries have palliative care services? How comprehensive are they? Where are the best role models and the biggest black holes?

Answers to questions like these mean APCA knows where best to direct our energy, and they can help our partners and donors do the same. So we're pulling together as much information about the current state of palliative care provision across Africa as we can. Our findings can be found through our interactive map - simply click on a country to see how it rates.   

Why does it matter?

It's hard to obtain reliable and systematic palliative care country information across Africa, so why have we bothered? Because in some places, a deficit of information about palliative care provision hinders service development. Duplication can occur or - more likely - gaps go unnoticed, meaning thousands of people suffer unnecessary physical and psychological pain from life-limiting illnesses.

To address this challenge, in 2010 we began a trial palliative care data collection exercise across a sample of 12 African countries.  The research aims to provide a clear profile of the status of palliative care in each, as the basis for a more targeted scale-up of care.  Each profile is set in its national context - such as demographics, the disease burden and other relevant information that will help service providers, national associations, policy makers and donors know where their work and support can have the biggest impact.  

Finding the facts

The data was collected from national palliative care associations and equivalent APCA partners in 12 African countries through a user-friendly, self-administered electronic questionnaire.  To ensure consistency, we defined key terminologies so respondents had a common understanding of the information needed. Although they completed the questionnaires on a self-report basis, we asked for sources where possible to support their responses. Where no relevant data was available, we asked them to state this. To try and ensure data validity, questionnaires were verified by APCA's Monitoring and Evaluation team, whose members collated and analysed the results.

First steps of many

These country profiles are the first stage of APCA's work to address the palliative care information deficit that characterises the continent. Eventually, all 53 African countries will be profiled this way, with the research repeated on a regular basis. This will ensure the data is valid, current and of real practical use to palliative care champions seeking to strengthen their services to patients and their families.