Palliative Care Gains Roots in China

In China over the past decade, palliative medicine has emerged as a new program. Development of this program requires attention to current opportunities, obstacles and cultural concerns. A selected review showed that there is an urgent need for palliative care in mainland China. Several challenges to implementing palliative care service in China include: (1) cultural perception and misunderstanding of palliative care; (2) lack of professionally trained health-care providers; (3) administrative and policy problems; and (4) limited funding for palliative care and research. More efforts should be made in clinical practice, education and research to develop and implement palliative care in mainland China.