Vision and mission
Vision: A world where high-quality palliative care is accessible to all those with life-limiting illnesses.
Mission: Focusing on seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe), we will promote palliative care as an essential part of the continuum of care for people with life-limiting illnesses. We will work to ensure that the crucial role of palliative care is recognised by national governments, their citizens and the international development community.
About the Palliative Care Initiative
Palliative care is an affordable and appropriate approach to health care that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing problems associated with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. It involves the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and careful assessment and treatment of pain and other problems - physical, psychosocial and spiritual. Ideally suited to home-based care, it supports the patient and their family throughout the illness, including a dignified death and bereavement care.
Launched by The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund in 2001, the Palliative Care Initiative seeks to ensure that high-quality palliative care is accessible to all who need it and that its essential role is recognised at local, national and international level by national governments, their citizens and donors.
Working in sub-Saharan Africa, the initiative has, between 2001 and 2007, spent more than £3 million, and has helped position the Fund as a leader in the field recognised by international donors and other health care organisations in Africa. Under this initiative, the Fund is committed to spending up to £10 million over the next five years to promote the scale-up of palliative care in Africa and its integration into government health policies.
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