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Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the Kenyan government needs to do more to provide palliative care for children with chronic illnesses, including cancer and HIV/AIDS. The report, Needless Pain: Government Failure to Provide Palliative Care for Children in Kenya, notes that while the government has made tremendous progress in rolling out services such as antiretroviral therapy (ART), much more had to be done to alleviate pain.
The Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA) is working with the government to provide palliative care for patients with HIV and cancer in 10 government hospitals across the country. While the UN World Health Organization recommends the provision of morphine and other opioid-based drugs and the Kenyan government lists them as essential medicine, they are not widely available in government health facilities. The report urges the government to "not just improve pain treatment for children, but better integrate the full range of pediatric palliative care services into its health system". In 2008, HRW organization criticized the government for failing to pay adequate attention to paediatric ART - at present, just 24 percent of children who need ART have access to it. However, according to the latest UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS country progress report on Kenya, many NGOs, civil society and government officials felt most people in need did not have access to palliative care and treatment of common HIV-related infections. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 13/9/2010)
