[Palliative care for children]

WHO's definition of palliative care appropriate for children and their families is: the active total care of the child's body, mind and spirit, and also involves giving support to the family. The aim is to improve the quality of life for children and their families therefore for most patients, home represents the ideal setting of care. Cultural, emotional, educational and organizational reasons explain why paediatric patients rarely benefit of this approach. Everyday life shows how paediatric patients experience all the clinical, psychological, ethic and spiritual problems related to serious illness and death. According to international survey the prevalence of life limiting diseases is 10 per 10,000 children aged 0-19 years; and the annual mortality is 1 per 10,000 children aged 0-17. A stable homogeneity regarding the needs of these patients, in spite of the geographical, cultural, organizational and social variability of different areas of the world, is emphasized by international surveys: the desire to be assisted and receive care at home, of a better communication among health workers involved and of more supporting services. Different models have been carried out in different areas in the world. Two models are residential (Hospital or Paediatric Hospice) and two are home care founded (domiciliary hospitalisation and integrated home care). Professionalism, development of skills, training, research and organization represent the mainstays in order to face up a often underestimated and forgotten condition.