Assessing the Need for Pediatric Palliative Care in the Six Arab Gulf Cooperation Council Countries
Background: Palliative care is an essential element of universal health coverage. However, palliative care services, particularly pediatric palliative care (PPC) services, are still inadequately developed in many countries, not least members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (Bahrain, Kuwait, Om...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Mary Ann Liebert
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Palliative Medicine Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/PMR.2022.0037 |
| _version_ | 1797346120355020800 |
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| author | Qutaibah Alotaibi Manjiri Dighe |
| author_facet | Qutaibah Alotaibi Manjiri Dighe |
| author_sort | Qutaibah Alotaibi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Palliative care is an essential element of universal health coverage. However, palliative care services, particularly pediatric palliative care (PPC) services, are still inadequately developed in many countries, not least members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates). Advocating for palliative care services requires data-driven estimates of the number of patients needing these services.
Objective: To estimate the number of children living with life-threatening illnesses in the GCC countries requiring specialist and/or generalist palliative care service provision.
Method: Descriptive analysis of published cross-sectional epidemiological data. Subjects were from general and age-specific populations from individual GCC countries. The quantitative data on child population and mortality were collected from 2019 primary and secondary data sources. The need for PPC was estimated using mortality, incidence, and prevalence data from the Institute for Health Metrics and the Global Cancer Observatory.
Results: Our conservative analysis revealed that just under 22,000 children needed PPC in GCC countries in 2019, a minimum of 17.5 for every 10,000 children.
Discussion: There is a significant need for PPC services, suggesting that the medical needs of the pediatric population are currently not being fully met. Nationwide PPC services are essential to improve the quality of life of thousands of children in GCC countries by changing policies, professional education, and providing funding to palliative programs. To our best knowledge, this is the first study to highlight the clear and urgent need for the development of PPC services in the GCC countries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:28:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cac948d8a5514fa4b1e49a09546a1f4d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2689-2820 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:28:21Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Mary Ann Liebert |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Palliative Medicine Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-cac948d8a5514fa4b1e49a09546a1f4d2024-01-26T05:04:50ZengMary Ann LiebertPalliative Medicine Reports2689-28202023-03-0141364010.1089/PMR.2022.0037Assessing the Need for Pediatric Palliative Care in the Six Arab Gulf Cooperation Council CountriesQutaibah AlotaibiManjiri DigheBackground: Palliative care is an essential element of universal health coverage. However, palliative care services, particularly pediatric palliative care (PPC) services, are still inadequately developed in many countries, not least members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates). Advocating for palliative care services requires data-driven estimates of the number of patients needing these services. Objective: To estimate the number of children living with life-threatening illnesses in the GCC countries requiring specialist and/or generalist palliative care service provision. Method: Descriptive analysis of published cross-sectional epidemiological data. Subjects were from general and age-specific populations from individual GCC countries. The quantitative data on child population and mortality were collected from 2019 primary and secondary data sources. The need for PPC was estimated using mortality, incidence, and prevalence data from the Institute for Health Metrics and the Global Cancer Observatory. Results: Our conservative analysis revealed that just under 22,000 children needed PPC in GCC countries in 2019, a minimum of 17.5 for every 10,000 children. Discussion: There is a significant need for PPC services, suggesting that the medical needs of the pediatric population are currently not being fully met. Nationwide PPC services are essential to improve the quality of life of thousands of children in GCC countries by changing policies, professional education, and providing funding to palliative programs. To our best knowledge, this is the first study to highlight the clear and urgent need for the development of PPC services in the GCC countries.https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/PMR.2022.0037Gulf Cooperation Councilincidencepediatric palliative careprevalence |
| spellingShingle | Qutaibah Alotaibi Manjiri Dighe Assessing the Need for Pediatric Palliative Care in the Six Arab Gulf Cooperation Council Countries Palliative Medicine Reports Gulf Cooperation Council incidence pediatric palliative care prevalence |
| title | Assessing the Need for Pediatric Palliative Care in the Six Arab Gulf Cooperation Council Countries |
| title_full | Assessing the Need for Pediatric Palliative Care in the Six Arab Gulf Cooperation Council Countries |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the Need for Pediatric Palliative Care in the Six Arab Gulf Cooperation Council Countries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the Need for Pediatric Palliative Care in the Six Arab Gulf Cooperation Council Countries |
| title_short | Assessing the Need for Pediatric Palliative Care in the Six Arab Gulf Cooperation Council Countries |
| title_sort | assessing the need for pediatric palliative care in the six arab gulf cooperation council countries |
| topic | Gulf Cooperation Council incidence pediatric palliative care prevalence |
| url | https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/PMR.2022.0037 |
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