Objective. This paper assesses the availability and quality of death certificate data in Latin America and the feasibility of using these data to study place of death and associated factors. Methods. In this comparative study, we collected examples of current official death certificates and digital data files containing information about all deaths that occurred during 1 year in 19 Latin American countries. Data were collected from June 2019 to May 2020. The records for place of death and associated variables were studied. The criteria for data quality were completeness, number of ill-defined causes of death and timeliness. Results. All 19 countries provided copies of current official death certificates and 18 of these registered the place of death. Distinguishing among hospital or other health care institution, home and other was possible for all countries. Digital data files with death certificate data were available from 12 countries and 1 region. Three countries had data considered to be of high quality and seven had data considered to be of medium quality. Categories for place of death and most of the predetermined factors possibly associated with place of death were included in the data files. Conclusions. The quality of data sets was rated medium to high in 10 countries. Hence, death certificate data make it feasible to conduct an international comparative study on place of death and the associated factors in Latin America.

Purpose of review To describe how Project ECHO works and to analyze what has been published on Project ECHO Palliative Care (Project ECHO PC) over the last 18 months. Recent findings Only two articles on Project ECHO PC have been published over the last 18 months: a descriptive study of experiences in seven health centers of the United States, the United Kingdom, Uruguay and India; and a quantitative and qualitative study of the impact of the teleECHO clinic on physicians and nurses in Northern Ireland, which reports a significant boost in knowledge acquisition and self-efficacy. Summary Project ECHO is an innovative telemedicine strategy, which creates learning communities, which use a standardized methodology and benefits healthcare professionals, particularly primary care providers or practitioners based on remote or rural areas. Since 2011, Project ECHO PC has been implemented in 12 health centers in 4 different countries, with greater growth in 2017. It has facilitated a wider access to professional education, improvements in clinical practice and knowledge acquisition, the development of professional curricula and more confidence and self-efficacy among healthcare professionals. Project ECHO PC is engaged in several international initiatives to aid countries with different degrees of palliative care development.

Background:Cancer incidence in the world is predicted to increase in the next decade. While progress has been in diagnosis and treatment, much is still remains to be done to improve cancer pain therapy, mainly in underserved communities in low income countries.Objective: To determine knowledge, beliefs and barriers regarding pain management in both high and low income countries (according to the WHO classification); and to learn about ways to improve the current state of affairs. Design: Descriptive surveySetting/Subjects: 56 countries worldwide; convenience sample of 1,639 consisted of 36.8% physicians; 45.1% nurses and 4.5% pharmacists employed in varied settings. Results:Improved pain management services are key elements. Top barriers include religion factors, lack of appropriate education and training at all levels, non-adherence to guidelines, patients reluctance to report on pains, over regulation associated with prescribing and access to opioid anangetics, fear of addiction to opioids, lack of discussions around prognosis & treatment planning. Conclusion:The majority of patients with cancer in low income countries are undertreated for their pain. Promoting cancer pain accredited program of training and education on pain management for physicians and nurses is crucial; as well as advocating policymakers and the public at large.