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Opium for the masses: Global disparity and opiate crisis imbalance

2023; Elsevier BV; Volume: 226; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.amjsurg.2023.06.007

1879-1883

Rovine Naluyimbazi, Tamara N. Fitzgerald,

Anesthesia and Pain Management

Opioids are effective analgesics that should be used for moderate to severe pain, including post-operative pain. However, there is a huge discrepancy in the availability of opioids between low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income countries (HICs). In “A Scoping Review on the Availability and Utilization of Essential Opioid Analgesics in Sub-Saharan Africa” 1 Yao J.S. Kibu O.D. Asahngwa C. et al. A scoping review on the availability and utilization of essential opioid analgesics in Sub-Saharan Africa. Am J Surg. 2023 Mar 27; (S0002-9610(23)00109-5)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2023.03.013 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (2) Google Scholar Yao et al. have reviewed the documented disparities, and the barriers to pain relief faced by patients and medical practitioners in sub-Saharan Africa. They found that key challenges include government restrictions, bureaucratic processes, insufficient pharmaceutical infrastructure, and significant knowledge gaps among medical practitioners. Whereas almost all post-operative patients in HICs receive an opioid for analgesia, this is not necessarily the case in LMICs.