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Palliative Care in the Caribbean Through the Lens of Women with Breast Cancer: Challenges and Opportunities

  • Global Breast Cancer (BO Anderson and C Duggan, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Breast Cancer Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Across the Caribbean, too many women are presenting with advanced breast cancer and dying with little or no access to palliative care. No comprehensive assessment of current capacity to deliver palliative care in the region exists, largely due to limited data. We assess the challenges in delivering palliative care for breast cancer patients in the Caribbean, highlighting the needs and experiences of low-income women through emblematic patient narratives.

Recent Findings

There is an urgent need to improve access to palliative care and pain relief throughout the region. Challenges include insufficient healthcare infrastructures to support cancer care, tremendous unmet need for palliative care, pervasive opiophobia resulting in limited access to opioids for pain relief, patients’ reluctance to engage with clinical care, and the widespread use of complementary and alternative medicines prior to the acceptance of conventional care.

Summary

There is an urgent need to improve access to palliative care and pain relief for cancer patients in the Caribbean. Strong regional collaboration, provider and patient education, improved access to opioids, and innovative models for palliative care that reflect the culture and resources available in the region have the potential to measurably improve palliative care delivery.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hope Institute Hospital, Kingston, Jamaica

    Dingle Spence

  2. Faculty of Medicine, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston, Jamaica

    Dingle Spence & Sheray N. Chin

  3. Jamaica Cancer Care and Research Institute, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston, Jamaica

    Dingle Spence, M Austin Argentieri, Sheray N. Chin & Alexandra E. Shields

  4. Harvard/MGH Centre on Genomics, Vulnerable Populations, and Health Disparities, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    M Austin Argentieri & Alexandra E. Shields

  5. School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    M Austin Argentieri

  6. George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados

    Natalie Greaves

  7. Caura Palliative Care Unit, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

    Karen Cox

  8. Princess Margaret Hospital, Oncology Centre, Nassau, Bahamas

    Margo Munroe

  9. Cheshire Hall Medical Centre, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands

    Gemma Watson

  10. Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados

    Heather Harewood

  11. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Alexandra E. Shields

Authors
  1. Dingle Spence
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  2. M Austin Argentieri
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  3. Natalie Greaves
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  4. Karen Cox
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dingle Spence.

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Conflict of Interest

N.G. declares involvement with the Barbados Palliative Care Association.

D.S., M.A.A., K.C., S.C., M.M., G.W., H.H. and A.E.S. declare no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Global Breast Cancer

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Spence, D., Austin Argentieri, M., Greaves, N. et al. Palliative Care in the Caribbean Through the Lens of Women with Breast Cancer: Challenges and Opportunities. Curr Breast Cancer Rep 10, 157–169 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12609-018-0280-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12609-018-0280-0

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