Fardeau des maladies chroniques en Afrique subsaharienne : plaidoyer pour une mise en place des soins palliatifs et d'accompagnement en fin de vie en République démocratique du Congo

The burden of chronic diseases (especially non-communicable) is the world's major public health challenge. The combination of erratic economic development, inadequate health systems, lacking diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities, is provoking in many resource-limited countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) an inability to manage the current extent of these diseases. Added to this is the widespread poverty and environmental challenges. In this context, the need for palliative care services for terminally ill patients is enormous and undeniable. Training and information for policy makers, caregivers and families are needed in the health transition. The palliative care could be the solution to a support with dignity, improving chronic patients' quality of life. This article presents and analyzes the extent of these chronic diseases and seeks to make a place to implement this care in medical practice in Kinshasa. Three main reasons (epidemiological transition, lack of training of caregivers of palliative approaches and priority by policy makers of these chronic diseases) should motivate all stakeholders (partners, political, caregivers and families) to implement these treatments in medical practices and to these diseases are not neglected in Sub-saharan Africa.