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ESMO 2012 emphasizes palliative care: 16 new ESMO Designated Centers of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care honored New research providing snap-shot of palliative care in Italy

Many people think that you go to hospice to die, but hospice is not about death at all, it is about preserving the quality of life, said former Bafana Bafana captain, Lucas Radebe.

While the new investment from the U.S. government in HIV and AIDS will undoubtedly make treatment available to more people who need it, we will never reverse the crippling effects of this 100 percent preventable

America

A two-day progress review meeting with a focus on improving pain management in public hospitals in Africa, organized through partnership between the African Palliative Care Association (APCA), and the Ministry of Health, came to a close yesterday in Kigali.

The Head of the Hospice and Palliative Care unit, University College Hospital, Ibadan & Centre for Palliative Care, Nigeria, Prof. Olaitan Soyannwo, in this interview with Bukola Adebayo sheds light on the need to improve palliative care for patients with terminal illness in the country

Patients are still dying in agony despite concerned efforts over many years to change attitudes towards the use and control of opiates. Could a new initiative, which works with NGOs, governments and policy makers to address practical problems, finally hit the spot?

If current population trends continue, the number of people with cancer worldwide will go up to 22.2 million by 2030, up from 12.7 million in 2008, according to a study published in The Lancet on Thursday. Cases are expected to surge in poorer parts of the world, which are ill-equipped to handle the burden.

"The burning in the lungs was the worst part, and there's not much that you can do for that." Sixty-year-old Johnie Bennett of Newhall, Calif., was diagnosed with lung cancer about a year and a half ago. The disease not only threatened her life, but it meant that she was in constant pain. Bennett said she coughed so much that she broke numerous ribs.

Throughout their careers, pain specialists must work to address common patient misconceptions surrounding pain treatment and outcomes. Here, five specialists discuss some of the more prevalent patient myths they encounter.

Chronic pain isn

It was the type of conversation that Dr. Claire Trescott dreads: telling physicians that they are not cutting it. But the large health care system here that Dr. Trescott helps manage has placed controls on how painkillers are prescribed, like making sure doctors do not prescribe too much.