Twenty years of home-based palliative care in Malappuram, Kerala, India
Abstract
The well lauded community-based palliative care programme of Kerala, India provides medical and social support, through home-based care, for patients with terminal illness and diseases requiring long-term support. There is, however, limited information on patient characteristics, caregivers and programme performance. This study was carried out to describe: i) the patients enrolled in the programme from 1996 to 2016 and their diagnosis, and ii) the care-giver characteristics and palliative care support from nurses and doctors in a cohort of patients registered during 2013–2015. This research was supported by the UK Department for International Development’s Operational Research Capacity Building Programme led by the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union