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"Eighty-five percent of the world's population does not have the necessary treatments to relieve pain," said Katherine Pettus, who is responsible for the promotion of palliative care at the International Association for Palliative Care. This was stated by Katherine Pettus, manager of the promotion of palliative care at the association International Association for Palliative Care (IAHPC), on the occasion of a seminar that she gave in the ATLANTES Program of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra.

In this sense, Pettus made reference letter to the work being done from the political agendas in favor of palliative care: "There is still much to be done. Worldwide, less than 10% of those in need of palliative care have access to it".

Katherine Pettus added that promote palliative care contributes to improving the health of the community and the state: "The population gains confidence in the governments that provide them with a good healthcare system and that confidence makes them better citizens". 

Palliative care and emotional intelligence

On the other hand, the expert argued that internship and the institutionalization of palliative care are very important for public life because "it allows the development of a series of skills related to emotional intelligence that can be useful for solving other complex problems such as global warming or the refugee crisis".

Finally, he emphasized that palliative care not only has a positive impact on the patient, but also on his or her entire family. "Not having good care in a disease with a lot of pain can create trauma in the family. Friends, relatives and even the caregivers themselves suffer psychological and emotional damage if they witness difficult deaths," the researcher insisted.

The specialist made these statements at the framework of the session 'Palliative Care: passion and politics', which was attended by researchers from the University of Navarra from fields such as medicine, nursing, sociology, Philosophy or Economics. The session was organized by the ATLANTES Program of the ICS, of which Pettus emphasized "its interdisciplinary character and its effort to study intangibles".