Socio-cultural beliefs and misconceptions about cancer are the greatest barriers to access to palliative care in Kenya.
It has emerged that some people still associate the disease with curses and witchcraft, with some viewing hospices as places where the patients are taken to await death.
Of greater concern is that the rising burden of non-communicable diseases and existing infectious disease burden has raised the need for palliative care.
Data show that 14,500 Kenyans accessed palliative care services in 2019, while less than five per cent of children accessed the services.
Palliative care is aimed at improving the quality of life of patients with life-limiting diseases such as cancer, kidney failure, dementia, cardiovascular diseases and HIV-Aids through prevention and relief of suffering.
This includes early identification and correct assessment and treatment of pain and other physical, psychosocial and spiritual problems.
“Five million Kenyans are in dire need of palliative care, they call themselves the voiceless not because they don’t have a voice but because of their illnesses and how they feel represented in this country,” palliative care ambassador and Nyeri Deputy Governor Caroline Karugu said.
“It is not easy to visit hospices. People call hospices a place where there are walking dead. When I was appointed as the palliative care ambassador, they called me the ambassador of the walking dead."
Kenya on Friday launched the first-ever palliative care policy at the Nairobi Hospice in an event officiated by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.
Kenyatta appealed to healthcare service providers to integrate palliative care like cancer management into the primary healthcare packages, terming it a human right.
She said this will help reduce the burden, adding that the provision of palliative care is important in restoring dignity and providing love and comfort in difficult times of ill-health.
“We have all experienced the pain families endure when loved ones have been diagnosed with chronic or life-threatening illnesses. Cancer, HIV-Aids, cardiovascular diseases, dementia and kidney failure are some of the ailments that require this care,” she said.
“It is even more discouraging to note that these services are severely limited among children. I urge that we find a solution that will accelerate the integration of palliative care across all levels.”
Andrew Mulwa, head of the preventive and promotive health division at the Health ministry, said only 79 palliative care facilities exist across 25 counties. This means 22 counties do not offer the service.
Mulwa said about 69 per cent of people who need palliative care have a form of NCD, with 28.2 per cent being as a result of cancer, 22 per cent as a result of HIV, 14 per cent due to cardiovascular diseases, while dementia contributes 12.2 per cent of the disease burden.
“Covid-19 emergence has also caused a new challenge of chronic illnesses, hence the need for palliative care in the country,” Mulwa said.
“Worldwide, just a small number of people—one in 10—are able to access palliative care and this causes great suffering among the people who badly require this care. The situation is the same in this country as only a handful of health facilities are offering palliative care.”
Palliative care commences from the point of diagnosis up to the end of life care and should be accessed throughout the continuum of care at all levels of service provision.
It focuses on relieving the serious health or illness-related suffering associated with serious health problems or the end of life.
