Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Peter Singer on the undersupply of opiods in the developing world

There's been a lot of discussion of the oversupply of opioids in the U.S.  Here's a discussion of the undersupply in the developing world.
Prisoners of Pain

"Whereas the quantity of available opioids in the United States is more than three times what patients in need of palliative care require, in India, the supply is just 4% of the required quantity, and just 0.2% in Nigeria. The reason is a misplaced fear that clinical use of opioids will fuel addiction and crime in the community.

He refers us to the Lancet report;
Alleviating the access abyss in palliative care and pain relief—an imperative of universal health coverage: the Lancet Commission report

"Executive Summary
The lack of global access to pain relief and palliative care throughout the life cycle constitutes a global crisis, and action to close this divide between rich and poor is a moral, health, and ethical imperative. The need for palliative care and pain relief has been largely ignored. Yet, palliative care and pain relief are essential elements of universal health coverage (UHC).

This Lancet Commission aims to (1) quantify the heavy burden of serious health-related suffering associated with a need for palliative care and pain relief; (2) identify and cost an essential package of palliative care and pain relief health services that would alleviate this burden; (3) measure the unmet need of an indispensable component of the package—off patent, oral, and injectable morphine; and (4) outline national and global health-systems strategies to expand access to palliative care and pain relief as an integral component of UHC while minimising the risk of diversion and non-medical use."

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