25 million including 2.5 million children. This is the number of people who die in pain each year when they could have been relieved by morphine. Here is the data revealed in the review The Lancet, who set up a commission around pain relief.
The cost of morphine and “opiophobia” involved
These figures, which represent half of the deaths in the world, can be explained by two factors, according to the authors of the report. The first is linked to the accessibility of morphine: in most poor countries it is difficult to obtain and in others it is practically non-existent. Mexico thus meets 36% of its morphine needs, China 16%, India 4% and Nigeria 0.2%. In Haiti and Afghanistan, morphine is virtually non-existent. And for good reason: it is paradoxically more expensive in poor countries than in rich countries.
Second factor: “opiophobia”. Some countries fear the non-medical use of morphine, which is part of the reason why suffering deaths are so high. An unacceptable reality for Felicia Knaul, professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami (United States) and member of the committee. “I have known the pain of Cancer. I accompanied a loved one in this pain. No human should go through this without pain medication. We can ensure that the 61 million people who need it each year receive palliative care“, affirmsshe does.
To overcome this “pain crisis”, Felicia Knaul suggests providing morphine to poor countries. Aid that would cost only $ 145 million per year, “a fraction of the cost of running an average American hospital,” she concludes.
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