Palliative Care in the UAE

The aim of palliative care is to prevent and alleviate the suffering associated with serious illness. While palliative care has traditionally been aligned with the care of patients with a diagnosis of advanced malignancy, palliative care is equally applicable to patients with a non-cancer diagnosis and highlights the fact that palliative care input is based on patient need rather as opposed to the diagnosis. Health-related suffering is present across the globe and the UAE is no different. Although palliative care remains a specialty in the early stages of development within the UAE, there has been a palliative care clinical service since 2007 at Tawam Hospital in Al Ain and the number of palliative care providers has slowly grown. There is a growing public awareness of the impact of health on quality of life and these cultural issues in addition to a number of other factors influencing the provision of palliative care across the UAE are discussed in this chapter.