RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Developing a palliative care service for children in the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP 698
OP 701
DO 10.1136/archdischild-2013-303722
VO 98
IS 9
A1 Elizabeth M Molyneux
A1 Vicky Lavy
A1 Mary Bunn
A1 Zoe Palmer
A1 Fred Chiputula
YR 2013
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/98/9/698.abstract
AB There are too few palliative care services for children in resource poor countries. Health carers are overwhelmed with cases of acute illness that need their urgent attention, and chronically ill children with life-limiting diseases have been sidelined. The HIV epidemic in southern Africa revealed the huge needs in our own hospital, and in 2002, we started a hospital-based paediatric palliative care service. It was the first in Africa. We describe here how it developed and expanded in the ensuing years and how it has affected our staff, the children and their families in our care.