Palliative care and pain relief continue to remain neglected elements of global healthcare, according to a major new article published online October 13 in the Lancet. The report is the first to provide a worldwide estimate of the extent of serious suffering related to illness and injury and the resultant need for palliative care and pain relief. More than 25.5 million people die every year without adequate relief for serious physical and psychological suffering ― nearly half of all deaths reported in 2015. The report also states that an additional 35.5 million people require pain relief for reasons other than end-of-life care. The vast majority of these patients (>80%) live in low- and middle-income countries, where access to immediate-release morphine, an essential and inexpensive drug to relieve pain, is severely lacking. Writing in a linked commentary , Richard Horton, MD, editor-in-chief of the Lancet , notes, "Death and disability are important metrics fo