Attempts to improve palliative care services in Africa are being hampered by the fear that many African professionals have of using morphine therapeutically and by poor access to the drug, a conference was told last month.⇓

Many countries in Africa have no access to morphine so that palliative care is reduced to the level of supportive care without pain relief, delegates from 35 countries heard. They were attending the second palliative care conference for Africa, in Nairobi.

While the world's 20 richest countries consume 86% of global therapeutic morphine, countries such as Rwanda use just 0.039 mg per …