Early palliative care in newly diagnosed cancer in Ethiopia: feasibility randomised controlled trial and cost analysis.

Objectives: Globally, cancer deaths are rising. In low-and-middle-income countries, there is a gap in access to palliative care (PC). We designed a feasibility trial to study the initiation of early PC in patients with cancer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Rationale and study design: A randomized controlled trial of early palliative care in newly diagnosed cancer patients in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Unlabelled: Patient-reported outcomes and economic aspects of Palliative Care (PC) provision in low-income countries (LIC) are under-studied. Demonstrating the economic value of PC is key to sustainability and guiding health care policy. Our preliminary data in Ethiopia demonstrated a widespread need for PC, poor access to it, and high out of pocket payments (OOP).