Scale of the Need

Global Humanitarian Needs

The United Nations response to humanitarian responses is coordinated by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). OCHA reports that over the past ten years, the number of people who are internally displaced or refugees has increased significantly. The number of internally displaced persons (IDP) has risen to 41.3 million (3). The number of refugees has doubled over the past decade, to 26.0 million (4).

Palliative Care Needs

As the 2018 report from Cox’s Bazar illustrated, there is a significant unmet need for palliative care in humanitarian settings. In Bangladesh, many individuals living with serious health problems were experiencing significant pain and pain treatments that they had received were largely ineffective. The figures below illustrates the pain and other symptoms which patients reported.

Pain severity before and after treatment

Commonly reported physical symptoms

Caregivers reported many challenges related to caregiver roles, including physical demands of caregiving, sadness, and anxiety (5).

Problems reported by caregivers related to providing care for the sick person