International Research Journal of Public and Environmental Health

Abstract

Broadly speaking, the level of palliative care of life-threatening illnesses is grossly inadequate in developing countries including Nigeria. This could be responsible for their poor ascertainment, late diagnoses and low survival outcomes in the regions. This study was aimed at highlighting the strategic leadership approaches required to achieve effective palliative care of MM in Nigeria. It was an evidence-based integrative review of 31 references related to palliative care, MM, leadership concepts and frameworks for effective management of the disease. Three keywords (Palliative care, MM and leadership model) were used as search strategy to identify the problems, interventions, and outcome evaluation of the research question. The AJOL, Pub Med, Google scholar, CINAHL and CDSR were the database reviewed. A multi-sectored approach involving integrated health protection tools (i.e., screening, surveillance), health promotion (awareness, policy-making) in addition to strategic leadership model are required to establish effective palliative care for MM in a developing country such as Nigeria. The four pillars of effective care in this case are education (health information), health policy, drug availability, and implementation strategies. Concluding, leadership failure is responsible for poor survival outcomes of MM patients in Nigeria. To mitigate this challenge, there is a need to restructure the leadership framework in health institutions to embrace a palliative form of care. This requires education, policy-making, collaboration, and appropriate therapeutic interventions. The government, community, healthcare provider, donor agency and patient are critical stakeholders for successful implementation and attainment of effective level of palliative care in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords:

MM, palliative care, health policy, medical effectiveness, Nigeria