Hospice and palliative care has developed using different models around the world. It has grown responding to varying needs and contexts and is at very different stages of development around the world.
A study ‘Mapping levels of palliative care development: a global update 2011’ found that out of the world’s 234 countries, only 136 (58%) have one or more hospice or palliative care services available to seriously ill people and their families and carers.
In those countries where hospice and palliative care services are present, provision is mostly localised, with only 19% of countries having achieved a measure of integration with mainstream healthcare service providers.
