Lancet commission highlights opioid undersupply crisis

With the pharmaceuticals industry, policy makers and global media focused on the intense and  growing crisis of opioid oversupply and addiction in the USA, a parallel crisis - one of undersupply in developing nations - has largely been ignored.

A special commission set up by The Lancet to investigate a lack of global access to pain relief and palliative care has uncovered a startling picture of unmet medical need in the poorest countries.

The commission found that while 90% of all the morphine on the planet is consumed by the world's richest 10%, many patients in developing nations with chronic illnesses such as cancer, or those recovering from invasive surgery, are forced to suffer with no effective pain relief at all.