Community-Based Palliative Care for Chronic Cancer Patients in the Philippines

Palliative care is a basic human right and end-of-life is a public health issue. According to the 2006 mapping exercise of the International Observatory on End-of-Life Care, the Philippines is categorized as under Group 3 together with other countries with localized palliative care provision across the globe. An emerging model of integrated palliative care delivery for the Philippines is the community-based palliative care (CPC). CPC’s primary goal is to ensure that the administrative and funding models for palliative care are harmonious to the objective of minimizing disruptions to patients and their families and optimizing the quality of life in every setting. The family is the basic social and economic unit of Filipino kinship. Although the family is important in many cultures, the central role that the family plays in the lives of its members in the Philippines is unusually significant. In times of illness, the extended family provides support and assistance. Important values that might affect interactions between providers and patients and families in the context of terminal illness include strong respect for elders, a strong reliance on family as decision-makers in case of illness, and strong expectations of care by the family. This article discusses some of the important milestones in the evolution of Palliative Medicine, and the history and development of Community-Based Palliative Care in the Philippines. It explores some current issues concerning consistency in its implementation, and some likely prospects for its future advancement and expected expansion, from the perspective of one central question: “What constitutes the ethos of Community-Based Palliative Care in the context of the Philippine healthcare system and the family dynamics in Filipino homes?”