Press Release

100 million people need hospice care, says global report

HRH Princess Anne, Archbishop Desmond Tutu

5 October 2005

100 million people worldwide need access to hospice and palliative care at the current time, but almost half the countries in the world have no provision at all, according to an important global report into hospice and palliative care services published today in the presence of HRH Princess Anne.

Suffering at the End of Life – The State of the World has been produced by UK charity Help the Hospices to mark the first ever World Hospice and Palliative Care Day which is taking place on Saturday 8th October.

The report calls for governments everywhere to make access to hospice and palliative care a human right and to include it as part of core health service provision. The report is backed up by a global petition (www.worldday.org/petition) which will be presented to governments around the world shortly after World Hospice and Palliative Care Day.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is strongly supporting the campaign. In an interview with BBC World Service broadcast today, he said, “The right to die with dignity with as little pain and as comfortably possible is as important a right as the right to life. We cannot hope for a change in government policies until people make it clear that this is a priority concern.”

HRH Princess Anne is supporting the campaign by speaking tonight at an inaugural event in London for World Hospice and Palliative Care Day. She is expected to give her personal views on why she feels these issues to be so important.

Key points of the report:

• Globally, 100 million people at any given time need access to hospice services – the number who can get the care they need is a tiny fraction of that
  
• Hospice and palliative care services are now available or under development in 100 (i.e. just over half) the countries in the world. In India, for example, less than 1% of the population has access to such services
  
• Although Sub-Saharan Africa has twice as many deaths per 1000 head of population annually as North America, it has only 1.5% of global palliative care resources compared to 55% in North America.
  
• In developing countries, diagnosis nearly always comes too late for cure,  making palliative care all the more essential
  
• There are currently six million cancer deaths and over 10 million new cases of cancer every year, rising to 15 million by 2020.
  
• Around the world, over one million people die every week.
  
• 42 million people are currently living with the HIV virus, 29 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa. 3.1 million people died of AIDS in 2004.
  
• Developing countries carry two thirds of the global disease burden but have only 5% of medical resources

The UK situation:

• Over £400 million in charitable donations must be raised each year to keep hospices going, making charitable hospice care the largest fundraising cause in the UK.
• In England and Scotland, adult hospices receive on average one third of their funding from the government, in Wales the average figure is one fifth. Children’s hospices receive around 5% - the rest is secured through charitable fundraising.
• There are more than 100,000 hospice volunteers in the UK, without whom hospices could not function.

David Praill, chief executive of Help the Hospices, commented, “The hospice movement has historically been extremely innovative in its holistic, flexible approach to patient care, with out reach and at-home services playing a major part in service provision. Lack of sufficient funds is impeding our ability not only to provide patients and their families with the care they need today, but also hampering our ability to develop for the future.”

About World Hospice and Palliative Care Day:

“An important global event” - Archbishop Tutu

Over 500 events in 62 countries (more than 200 events in UK), including:

• A twenty-four hour global musical marathon, Voices for Hospices, incorporating over 440 concerts in at least 58 countries
  
• A global webcast (Rosetta Requiem www.rosettalife.org)          
  
• A global online petition
  
• Soap box orators in Switzerland
  
• Book launches in Norway and the Czech Republic
  
• Art exhibitions in Hong Kong, Austria and Australia
  
• A youth drama competition in South Africa
  
• A cycle rally in Nepal a street parade in the USA

A unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world, developed by 14 major voluntary organisations involved in the sector, from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Australasia.

www.worldday.org

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