Needless Pain: Government Failure to Provide Palliative Care for Children in Kenya

In Kenya, hundreds of thousands of children suffer from HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other illnesses. They often experience severe, debilitating pain. Morphine and other medicines can cheaply and easily bring relief, but very few sick children receive them. The World Health Organization defines oral morphine an essential medicine, as does Kenya's own drug policy. Yet the Kenyan government does not purchase it for public health facilities. Morphine is only available in seven of the country's approximately 250 public hospitals.
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