African Palliative Care Association

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

  • What is palliative care?
    • Palliative care, is primarily directed at providing relief to people with a like-limiting illness through symptom management and pain management. The goal is not to cure, but to provide comfort and maintain the highest possible quality of life for as long as life remains. The focus is not on death, but on compassionate specialised care for the living. Palliative care therefore, strives to help individuals and their families:
      • address physical, psychological, social, spiritual and practical issues as well as associated expectations, needs, hopes and fears,
      • prepare for, and manage, self-determined life closure and the dying process, and
      • cope with loss and grief during illness and bereavement.

    Palliative care aims to:

      • treat all active issues
      • prevent new issues from occurring
      • promote opportunities for meaningful and valuable experiences, personal and spiritual growth as well as self-actualisation.
  • Is there a difference between palliative care and Home-based care?
    • Home care is defined as the provision of health services by formal and informal caregivers in the home. There are various models of delivery of palliative care services in different parts of the world. One of the models of delivery is a home-based care model where patients are taken care of in their own homes. Home-based care without holistic palliative care including effective pain and symptom control is not palliative care. Palliative care delivered in the patients’ homes is a convenient and preferred way of care for many patients as it makes them be where they want to be.
  • Who benefits from palliative care?
    • Palliative care is appropriate for any patient and/or family living with a life-threatening illness, with any prognosis, regardless of age, and at any time they have unmet expectations and/or needs. It is not for only cancer and/or AIDS patients though in Africa the emphasis is still on HIV/AIDS and cancer as they are associated with a lot of discomfort and most patients can not access required treatments. For such patients, the only realistic treatment is palliative care.
  • What is involved in palliative care?
    • Palliative care involves total care for the patient and his or her family with the patient being in the centre of care. Palliative care is total care which involves:
      • Pain management – patients with life-threatening illnesses may experience a lot of pain. Families are concerned about pain and how to relieve it. Palliative care providers work with patients are families to find out what could be causing the pain and the best ways to relieve it. The WHO has recommended Morphine (a narcotic) as the drug of choice for patients with moderate-to-severe pain. Other modalities and/or other drugs could be used in the management of a patient’s physical pain.
      • Symptom management – often, patients with cancer and/or HIV/AIDS have to deal with a variety of other symptoms. Such symptoms might include nausea and vomiting, weakness, difficulty breathing, bowel and bladder problems, among others. Palliative care can help relieve these symptoms that may be very distressing.
      • Psychosocial, spiritual and emotional support – the health of the whole person is important in palliative care, hence the need for provision of many different kinds of support to both the individual and family.
      • Caregiver support – there may be a concern about whether it is possible to look after their family member, especially when the person being cared for is at home. Palliative care services can help the family cope and such services include:
        • Advice and assistance from health care providers – nurses and doctors – who are skilled in providing palliative care;
        • Instruction on how to care for the person – e.g. how to give medication, prevention of skin problems, how to recognise when a person is close to death and what to do at that time;
        • Home support services that provide assistance with household tasks and other activities of daily living (ADL)
        • Relief of the care giver through day care services, volunteer staying at home with the patient, among others.

    Palliative care may complement and enhance disease-modifying therapy or may become the total focus of care. It continues even after the death of a patient through bereavement support.

  • What is Grief and Bereavement?
    • Grief is a personal emotional response to a loss. The loss of a loved one is life’s most stressful event and can cause a major emotional crisis. Grief impacts every aspect of a person’s being. Anticipatory grieving may start with a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness and may enable preparation for loss. Anticipatory grieving does not mean that the family will not grieve after the death. Bereavement which literally means “to be deprived by death,” is the grief that occurs after death of a loved one. Expression of the loss varies greatly among different cultures. The aching pain of bereavement can last for years.
  • What is Bereavement Support?
    • Grief is exhausting and it is important to continue your daily health routines. It is isolating but does not have to be isolating as it sounds. A bereaved person needs support in order to cope with the loss. Effective palliative care includes support to the bereaved family. The following interventions have been found to be beneficial to the bereaved:
      • Showing your genuine concern and emotions
      • Avoid clichés e.g. ‘you need to be strong now…’ ‘It is God’s will’, etc. Such responses can make survivors feel angry, misunderstood or unsupported, as every person’s response is unique
      • Use of touch, when appropriate
      • Allowing for silence, emotional reactions, etc.
      • Facilitation of expression of feelings or conversations about the person who has died
      • Sharing your memories (if appropriate) of the deceased and talking about his or her special qualities.
  •  Who provides palliative care in Africa?
    • Palliative care in Africa is still a very new concept and it is currently not widely available. Many countries do not have an active palliative care programmes. However, there are more countries that have taken up palliative care as an essential health care plan. For more detail on providers of palliative care in Africa, visit the International Observatory on End-of-Life Care for palliative care country profiles.
  • What is the African Palliative Care Association and what does it do?
    • The African Palliative Care Association (APCA) is a pan-African non-profit making organisation mandated with promoting and supporting culturally appropriate palliative care across Africa, through education and training, advocacy, and development of standards of care. APCA’s mission is to promote and support affordable and culturally appropriate palliative care throughout Africa.  Its objectives include:
      • Encouraging governments across sub-Saharan Africa to support affordable and appropriate palliative care and to have it incorporated into the whole spectrum of health care service provision.
      • Promoting the availability of palliative care drugs for all in need
      • Encouraging the establishment of national palliative care associations in all sub-Saharan African countries,
      • Promoting palliative care training programmes suitable for sub-Saharan African countries
      • Development of standardised guidelines for training and care provision at different levels of health professional and care providers.

    APCA does not provide care directly to patients and we are not a Hospice

  • How can I find out about palliative care services in my country?