African Hospital-Based Paediatric Palliative Oncology Care Independent of Economic Indicators: An International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) Global Mapping Programme Survey.

Abstract

Background: Paediatric palliative care (PPC) is considered an essential component of the management of children and adolescents with cancer. The International Society of Paediatric Oncology Global Mapping Programme (SIOP GMP) surveyed hospital-based paediatric oncology facilities across Africa from 2018 to 2020 to document PPC and provision of PPC services. We aimed to assess possible correlations between existing PPC services across Africa with economic indicators.

Procedure: An electronic and paper survey was widely distributed to elicit the presence of components of PPC: PPC teams, bereavement counselling services, patient support groups, and spiritual and religious support. Results were correlated with the countries' Gini coefficient, World Bank income status indicators and Human Development Index.

Results: Hospital-based paediatric oncology facilities in 16/54 African countries reported having all four PPC services, while those in 12 countries reported having none of the four PPC services. No clear correlations were found between provision of such services and selected economic factors.

Conclusions: This study assesses components of PPC through four binary questions and demonstrates that hospital-based paediatric oncology facilities with limited resources caring for children and adolescents can provide PPC. Adoption of the World Health Organization's conceptual framework for palliative care and knowledge transfer between African facilities on the integration of PPC into paediatric oncology care, would benefit the increasing numbers of children and adolescents with cancer across the continent.