Written by Niki Guloy

2015 Quality Index Overall Scores
RANK COUNTRY SCORE
1 UK 93.9
2 Australia 91.6
3 New Zealand 87.6
….
78 Philippines 15.3
79 Bangladesh 14.1
80 Iraq 12.5

In a 2015 quality of death study, the Philippines was named as the third worst place to die out of 80 countries, next to Iraq and Bangladesh.

Lack of awareness and training in relevant health care – along with insufficient national policy & medical bill subsidies – are some reasons why our country ranks so low.

These are also the reasons why The Ruth Foundation team works hard to improve the Filipino perspective on dying.

The truth is, palliative is not about dying a good death, but living the best life possible until the inevitable comes.

It is about time we talk about death with less fear and more hope.