End of Life and Poverty

French, Maddy and Salifu, Yakubu (2025) End of Life and Poverty. In: Research Handbook of End of Life Care and Society :. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., Cheltenham, pp. 354-366. ISBN 9781035317332

Abstract

Poverty is introduced as a multi-dimensional concept, intersectional in nature and with material, financial, and social dimensions. We focus on the material and financial aspects of poverty, including how having, or caring for someone with, an advanced life-limiting illness can both put people into poverty and exacerbate existing poverty. Evidence from countries with different national income levels is considered and compared. We demonstrate the direct and indirect impacts that poverty can have on people with advanced life-limiting illness and their families, including costs related to caregiving and financial implications for the wider household, and detail the impacts of poverty on physical and mental wellbeing. The relationship between poverty, use of healthcare services, and the global inequities in access to palliative or end-of-life care is also considered, before presenting selected examples of initiatives to mitigate the impact of poverty at the end of life in both high- and low-income regions.