Palliative Care and Universal Health Coverage: Don't Leave those Suffering Behind

Palliation is a term that has emerged in modern medicine over the last century. Derived from the Latin word “palliat”, palliation notably masks a person’s pain. The standard definition of palliative care given by WHO (World Health Organization) is “Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening diseases, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual” [1].