Palliative care in women's cancer care: Global challenges and advances

Abstract

Women's cancer rates are increasing in low- and middle-income countries, with presentations that are often far advanced requiring intense symptom management, thus advancing the urgent need to address palliative care. Most resource settings have some options available to assist women with advanced gynecologic cancer, and a combination of leveraging these and expanding on emerging models for palliative care could lessen suffering and improve care for women with gynecologic cancers globally. Providing palliative care for women with cancer is constrained by resources (human and physical), lack of equipment, lack of access, and policy absence or barriers. There is important work to be done in advocating for appropriate infrastructure development and legislation to assure that these options are available to women and their families. Access to adequate opioid and other pain relief options for cancer-related pain is a particular concern given that availability, cost, and legislative prohibitions create barriers that cause suffering for patients and grief for their families who are unable to address their suffering. All of these require ongoing advocacy for continual advances to improve access and infrastructure for palliative care.