Britain notched the top 80 countries’ “quality of death” in a study released by the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit, which become a caution the ageing and booming populations would make palliative care a growing worldwide issue.
“Its ranking is due to comprehensive national policies, the extensive integration of palliative care into the National Health Service, a strong hospice movement, and deep community engagement on the issue,” the EIU said in ABS-CBNnews.com
The 2015 Quality of Death Index compiled by EIU, found that Britain is best at palliative care followed by Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Belgium, and Taiwan.
Iraq was found to be the worst in palliative care among the 80 countries that were studied, having the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Myanmar on the bottom five. The report also praised the progress made by less wealthy states.
EIU said many developing countries are still unable to provide basic pain management due to limitations in staff and basic infrastructure, and yet there are countries with lower income are demonstrating the power of innovation and individual initiative.
Panama (31st), was building palliative care into its primary care services, Mongolia (28th) had seen the rapid growth of their hospital facilities, while Uganda (35th) had an impressive advances in the availability of opioid painkillers.
China (71st) was said to be the most vulnerable in population ageing and rising incidences of health conditions such as cardiovascular disease. The studies said the country’s adoption of palliative care has been slow, with a curative approach dominating healthcare strategies.
“Many other developing countries will also need to work hard to meet rising future need as the incidence of non-communicable disease increases and their populations grow older,” the report said in ABS-CBNnews.com.
The overall study showed that palliative care was rising up the agenda as “seismic demographic shifts” which also forces the government to confront the reality of providing ageing populations.
Well-off progressive countries have the need to deal with booming populations and increasing percentage of people having unhealthy lifestyles that forces healthcare systems to adapt chronic condition like diabetes.
The top 10 in palliative care (scores out of 100):
- Britain – 93.9
- Australia – 91.6
- New Zealand – 87.6
- Ireland – 85.8
- Belgium – 84.5
- Taiwan – 83.1
- Germany – 82.0
- Netherlands – 80.9
- United States – 80.8
- France – 79.4
The bottom five on the list:
- Myanmar – 17.1
- Nigeria – 16.9
- Philippines – 15.3
- Bangladesh – 14.1
- Iraq – 12.5