Jadhav Abhijeet Vasant, Gawde Nilesh C
Centre for Public Health, School of Health Systems Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Vikas Anvesh Foundation, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Indian J Palliat Care. 2019 Oct-Dec;25(4):587-591. doi: 10.4103/IJPC.IJPC_51_19.
Asbestos-related diseases (ARDs) are incurable but entirely preventable. Due to India's continuing use of asbestos, ARD patients will increase to a high number in the next three to four decades. This will increase the burden on palliative care system which is in nascent stage presently. Palliative care is the mainstay of the management of ARDs. Unfortunately, the burden on palliative care is likely to increase due to multiple factors contributed by India's demographic and economic changes. In the near future, there will be at least 12.5 million ARD patients and 1.25 million asbestos-related cancer patients worldwide, and half of these will be in India. It is high time to introspect about our ability to engage with this future problem. The paper also discusses the organization of this future problem of ARDs and possible action points toward future access to palliative care for ARD patients.
石棉相关疾病（ARDs）无法治愈，但完全可以预防。由于印度持续使用石棉，在未来三到四十年间，ARD患者数量将大幅增加。这将加重目前尚处于起步阶段的姑息治疗系统的负担。姑息治疗是ARDs管理的支柱。不幸的是，由于印度人口和经济变化带来的多种因素，姑息治疗的负担可能会增加。在不久的将来，全球将至少有1250万ARD患者和125万石棉相关癌症患者，其中一半将在印度。现在是时候反思我们应对这一未来问题的能力了。本文还讨论了ARDs这一未来问题的构成以及为ARD患者未来获得姑息治疗的可能行动要点。
