There are an estimated 21 million children in the world today who have been diagnosed with a life-limiting or life-threatening illness or condition. Less than 1% of these children get the holistic support they deserve to ensure the best quality of life possible. Most services for these children are in the developed world but the greatest need is in the developing world. Help us reach these children by pledging to do something to improve their odds of receiving palliative care.
Every day children are born with rare genetic conditions, they get very sick and 29,000 of them will die each day, often in unnecessary pain. There are over 21 million children in the world today who live with a serious illness or inherited condition causing physical, emotional and spiritual distress, placing severe restrictions on their quality of life. Most of these children live in the developing world where access to hospice and palliative care services are extremely limited or non-existent.
The ICPCN is a the only global charity dedicated to the development of hospice and palliative care services addressing the needs of these children and those who care for them. We are the only provider of free University endorsed e-learning courses on children's palliative care. We also provide face to face training of medical and allied health professionals in the principles of palliative care for children in underserved countries e.g. Ukraine, Malaysia, Lesotho, India, Malawi and Swaziland.
Quality education is the only way to ensure more children with a serious, life threatening illness or condition receive the holistic support that palliative care provides. Children attended to by a health professional trained in the principles of palliative care will experience a better quality of life, better pain and symptom control and the appropriate care at the time of death. In developing countries, trained health professionals can potentially care for up to 200 or more children each year.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
