title: Community Palliative Care in Turkey: A Collaborative Promoter to a New Concept in the Middle East.
abstract: The Middle East has been struggling with basic issues of cancer care, and in specific, palliative care, at the primary health care level in the communities. The Middle East Cancer Consortium designated this issue as the highest priority of its activities in the region. Following basic and advanced courses and national and international workshops, local governments recognized the essentiality of developing palliative care services in their respective countries. As the result of these training activities, in 2010, the Ministry of Health in Turkey initiated a novel program whereby population-based and home-based palliative care teams were developed throughout the country, including peripheral regions in the countries where appropriate care was not available. This initiative led to a dramatic increase in the number of cancer patients receiving palliative care at their homes. The Turkish initiative can serve as a model to other countries in the Middle East and beyond it.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Control Department, Public Health Institute, Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey (Drs Hacıkamiloglu, Utku, and Gultekin); Public Hospitals Institution, Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey (Dr Cukurova); Public Health Institution, Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey (Dr Keskinkilic); Department of Deontology & History of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey (Dr Topcu); and Middle East Cancer Consortium, Haifa, Israel (Dr Silbermann).
authors.forename: Ezgi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hacıkamiloglu
authors.forename: Ezgi Simsek
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Utku
authors.forename: Zafer
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cukurova
authors.forename: Bekir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Keskinkilic
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Topcu
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gultekin
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silbermann
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D000070659:Patient Comfort; D012042:Registries; D014421:Turkey