Cancer patients in developing countries are deprived of basic painkillers

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer patients in developing countries are deprived of basic painkillers, often because of excessive fear of opioid dependence, one day before World Narcotics Day. cancer, which will take place on Monday.

More than half of pharmacies in two-thirds of the industrialized countries have oral morphine, a widely used badgesic for the treatment of acute pain, compared with only 6% of pharmacies in poor countries, said Thursday. WHO expert Chiran Vargas.

The UN agency is issuing new guidelines for health authorities around the world to address the pain felt by 55% of cancer patients on treatment and two-thirds of those with cancer. with advanced or incurable cancer.

"No one should live or die in suffering in the twenty-first century, whether or not they have cancer," said Etienne Crog, director of noncommunicable diseases in the organization.

"In some parts of the world, these drugs are marketed freely and used for drug addiction, there is real and justified fear, but that should not be at the expense of those who live or die in pain."

The widespread use of opioid overdoses in the United States, sometimes due to over-prescribing doctors, resulted in more than 49,000 deaths last year, raising fears of dependence in other areas.

The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines impose strict precautionary measures when administering addictive substances such as morphine, but indicate that oral morphine is "a basic treatment for moderate to severe cancer pain ".

In a report published on February 4 on the occasion of World Cancer Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 18.1 million new cancer cases occur each year worldwide. , with one in six deaths, or 9.6 million deaths.