The value of alleviating suffering and dignifying death in war and humanitarian crises

Despite a vast literature on humanitarian crisis response, palliative care, pain relief, and care for the dying and bereaved need increased and urgent attention, particularly in the context of armed conflict. The Lancet Commission on the Value of Death  challenged the medicalisation of dying and death and reaffirmed the moral injustice of the global palliative care and pain relief divide.13 The devastating humanitarian crisis in Ukraine raises the vital importance of these issues.