Deriving Frameworks for Improved Quality Palliative Care of Multiple myeloma in the elderly in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria, an archetype of a developing country is Africa's most populous black nation, with a population of 200 million people and an annual growth  rate of 3%. It is a unique nation with multi- ethnic, human and natural diversities. The nation is presumed to have a very robust economic market with an estimated GDP of USD 446 billion and GNI per capita of USD 1960. Unfortunately, Nigeria has a poor ranking among the member nations that make up the United Nations, because of her poor health indices. According to 2019 CIA report, Nigeria ranks 213th in life expectancy (i.e., average life expectancy from birth is 54 years) out of the 224 member countries that make up the United Nations. The implication is that Nigeria is among the first-eleven worst countries to live in the World. Additionally, it is a country known with a very high-income gap, where there is ''no caring and sharing'' (a nonegalitarian society). As a result of these poor health indices, Nigerians are short-lived and the middle-elderly age population is gradually eroding in the nation. This is even made worse by lack of good health policies from the governmental actors and high level of corruption that dominates the various arms of governance. According to 2019 CPI report by the Transparency International, Nigeria is the 36th worst corrupt nation (146th out of 186 countries) in the World. The worse hit in this scenario is the palliative care of the elderly population who are neglected to die of geriatric illnesses which, in the real sense, could have been managed adequately to reduce their DALY and improve their QALY. This essay was a critical and systemic review of PCMM, a malignant disease ravaging the elderly population group in Nigeria. It addressed the PCMM patients in Nigeria from the perspective of challenges of care of PLWMM, methods of improving the quality of PCMM in Nigeria, critical analysis of relevant quality areas, relevant governmental structures or frameworks that could play key roles in mitigating healthcare needs of people living with
MM in Nigeria, and a look at the observed and expected outcomes of improving quality of PCMM in Nigeria.