Paediatric palliative care

Palliative care for children and adolescents is a relatively new specialty area. It has been developing in Australia since the late 1990s. Although the principles of adult palliative care can be applied to children and adolescents, the context of palliative care for them differs in significant ways. Compared with adults, there are fewer children and adolescents requiring palliative care. In developed countries such as Australia, the number of children and adolescents aged between 0-19 years likely to require palliative care services is estimated as 16 per 10,000 (Cochrane, Liyanage & Nantambi 2007)