Exploratory program-cost scenario · Model v0.1
Relief when illness cannot be cured
For someone living with cancer pain, a less painful day matters. Palliative care makes that relief a goal in its own right, alongside care for the illness.
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Evidence for pain relief. A provisional estimate of its cost.
Reviewed 18 October 2026. The $40 weekly cost and average intensity reduction below are WSI assumptions, not measured results from Hospice Africa Uganda.
USU of physical pain relieved
≈9per $100 in modeled program costs
2026 USD assumption · Central scenario
modeled patient-weeks of care
assumed average additional relief on the WSI intensity scale
The central result is 8.9 USU of gross pain relief. It is conditional on additional care for adults with inadequately controlled cancer pain. It is not a measured return on a donation, a cure estimate or a complete assessment of treatment benefits and harms.
Lower and higher assumptions give 2.2 and 35.6 USU per $100. These are scenarios, not confidence bounds. No additional pain relief gives zero gross benefit; net benefit could be negative if treatment burdens remain.
Why this intervention
Care can change how a day feels
Palliative care addresses pain and other physical, psychological and practical needs. It can start early and accompany disease-directed treatment; it is not limited to the final days of life. Our example focuses on one part of that work: relieving adult cancer pain. [H2]
A Cochrane review of 62 studies involving 4,241 participants supports oral morphine’s ability to relieve cancer pain. In the subset reporting individual results for a mild-or-less pain outcome, 362 of 377 participants reached that level. The studies were generally small and at high risk of bias, often comparing formulations or other active medicines. [H1]
That proportion is not the additional benefit of a new care program. It does not tell us how people would have fared with otherwise available care, nor the average intensity reduction across a week. We use it as clinical context, not as a success multiplier in the calculation.
Hospice Africa Uganda describes nurse-led care through clinics, outreach and home visits, including pain assessment and access to oral liquid morphine. Its wider work also supports families and other patient needs. [H3]
What the estimate includes
Included
Additional physical pain relief for eligible adults during each funded seven-day window. Relief is compared with the pain they would experience with care otherwise available.
Outside this estimate
Other symptoms, psychological and spiritual support, caregiver relief, bereavement, medication harms and benefits beyond the funded week. Deaths prevented are unestimated, not zero.
This counts experienced relief while someone is alive. It assigns no suffering to death itself and does not add a separate pre-death allowance on top of the same hours.
Explore the estimate
What could a pain-care budget make possible?
For $100 in modeled program costs
8.9USU of physical pain relieved
2.5funded patient-week equivalents
17.5funded patient-day equivalents
Central: $40 per patient-week; average additional intensity reduction 1 across all funded hours. Both are WSI assumptions, not measured program results. Funded days are not days made pain-free.
A patient-week is a budget unit, not a recommended stopping point for treatment. Fractional equivalents describe spending across care packages. Scaling the calculation does not establish delivery capacity at every budget.
This calculator illustrates the model. It does not collect a donation.
| Scenario | Cost / patient-week | Average intensity reduction | Gross USU relieved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower | $80 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| Central | $40 | 1 | 8.9 |
| Higher | $20 | 2 | 35.6 |
| No additional relief | $40 | 0 | 0.0 |
The lower and higher scenarios change cost and relief together. They do not bound all plausible results.
Evidence and judgment
What supports the inputs?
Cost: a delivery allowance, still to verify
We have not established a current, itemized cost for an additional patient-week of this care. The $40 central allowance is a round WSI planning choice intended to cover medicines, assessment, follow-up, transport and administration. It is not a provider quote or a verified all-in cost. The $20 and $80 alternatives test halving and doubling it, without claiming either is a lower or upper bound.
Medicine prices alone would miss delivery costs. A primary evaluation of Uganda’s morphine program documented obstacles in prescribing, supply and follow-up even after access had expanded. [H4] Household expenses and patient time are outside our provider-budget calculation.
Relief: one average change across the funded week
The central scenario assumes a one-point reduction on the WSI 0–10 scale, averaged across all 168 hours and all eligible patient-weeks. One way to picture the same area is two points of relief for half the week. Neither pattern is an observed program result or a validated conversion from a clinical pain score.
The average must include sleep, milder periods, interruptions, nonresponse and weeks shortened by death. Hours after death contribute zero. Because these are already part of the average, we do not apply another success or adherence multiplier. If care would otherwise have provided the same relief, the additional reduction is zero.
The clinical evidence makes relief plausible; it does not validate our chosen magnitude. The 0.5, 1 and 2-point scenarios are judgments to explore, not proven conservative estimates.
Duration: count only what is funded
We credit seven days per patient-week and make no lifetime projection. Further relief requires further care and funding. The model does not assume that pain remains controlled after care stops.
Harms: a separate, unresolved part of the balance
The review reports constipation, nausea and vomiting, and discontinuation because of adverse effects in about 6% of participants. [H1] These burdens need their own estimates before the headline can be called net benefit. This is clinically supervised care; the report does not provide treatment or dosing instructions.
The most useful refinement: a current delivery budget paired with patient-reported pain over time and a credible comparison with otherwise available care.
Follow the calculation
From a care budget to experienced relief
Estimate additional care
$100 ÷ $40 = 2.5 patient-week equivalentsApply the average additional reduction
Each funded week contains 168 hours. The central reduction is one WSI intensity point averaged across those hours.
2.5 × 7 days × 24 hours × 1 = 420 intensity-hours relievedExpress relief in the shared unit
420 ÷ 47.25 = 8.89 USU of gross pain relief
One USU is the stipulated six-hour kidney-stone pain reference of 47.25 intensity-hours, with linear weighting (p = 1). This supplies a shared scale; it does not empirically validate the intensity mapping. Calculations retain full precision before rounding. Read about the reference
Current work · reviewed 18 October 2026
A way to support palliative care
Hospice Africa Uganda currently describes clinical care, outreach and patient-support services, and its official website lists local and international ways to give. [H3] [H5] We have not verified the remaining funding gap or how much of a new gift would expand the particular care modeled here.
How to help
Hospice Africa Uganda
Explore support options for its palliative-care work through the organization’s official website.
The donation page lists routes through country partners. Confirm destination and allocation when giving. A general gift may support wider services, training or outreach; it does not reserve the patient-weeks in our illustration. No organization has endorsed this USU model.
You can also share this report with someone interested in this work. Donations are made on the organization’s website or its linked partner platforms. WSI does not collect or handle funds.
Support page checked 18 October 2026. This confirms published routes to give, not a tested payment, a verified remaining funding gap or a guaranteed result.
Inspect and improve
Sources and reproducible inputs
- Wiffen, Wee and Moore (2016): Oral morphine for cancer painOriginal Cochrane review: evidence of analgesia, study limitations and adverse effects. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003868.pub4. Not a causal estimate of this Ugandan program or a USU calibration.
- WHO (2020): Palliative careScope of palliative care and its place alongside other treatment. Reviewed 18 October 2026.
- Hospice Africa Uganda: Holistic Palliative CareProvider description of clinical care, outreach and patient support. Reviewed 18 October 2026; does not establish our cost or intensity assumptions.
- Logie and Harding (2005): Evaluation of Uganda’s morphine access programPrimary implementation study: prescribing, supply and follow-up barriers. Historical evidence, not a current price or outcome estimate.
- Hospice Africa: official donation optionsOfficial local and international support routes checked 18 October 2026. Allocation and remaining funding gap unverified.
The package includes inputs, a scenario CSV and a dependency-free Python calculation. Unknown outcomes use null, not zero. Model v0.1 · 18 October 2026.