By Sean Chetty, PainSA Past President
Pain is not a niche problem. It is one of the leading causes of disability globally. The Global Burden of Disease study consistently identifies low back pain as the single leading cause of years lived with disability worldwide.1 Chronic pain affects approximately 20% of adults globally.2 In low- and middle-income countries, the burden is amplified by limited access to multidisciplinary care and uneven training in pain medicine.
South Africa is no exception. We face high rates of trauma, surgical disease, HIV-related neuropathy, cancer, and poorly controlled postoperative pain; all against a backdrop of resource constraints and inequitable access to specialised services. Yet pain remains under-recognised, under-measured, and too often normalised.
It is precisely in this context that the role of a professional society like PainSA becomes critical.
PainSA has grown into the recognised multidisciplinary representative body for pain in South Africa. Our affiliation with the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) positions us within a global network committed to advancing pain research, education, and policy. That link is not symbolic – it anchors our work in international standards while ensuring local relevance. It allows South African clinicians and researchers to participate in global conversations, contribute African data, and shape context-appropriate solutions.
My own journey within PainSA, from Council member to Treasurer, President-elect and President, has given me a front-row view of how a society matures. Governance structures have strengthened. Financial stewardship has enabled sustainability without compromising accessibility. Educational initiatives have expanded in both reach and quality. What was once a relatively small professional network is now a confident, credible voice in national discussions on pain.
What distinguishes PainSA is its multidisciplinary DNA. Anaesthesiologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, nurses, general practitioners, surgeons and scientists work alongside one another. Pain does not respect disciplinary boundaries, and neither can we. Our congresses, workshops and webinars increasingly reflect this integration. Always ensuring they are practical, evidence-based, and clinically relevant.
Education remains our most powerful lever. The IASP has long emphasised that inadequate pain education is a global problem. 3 In South Africa, formal undergraduate and postgraduate exposure to pain medicine is still inconsistent. PainSA, therefore, carries a responsibility that extends beyond events: to advocate for structured curricula, to support young clinicians entering the field, and to model best practice.
Membership of PainSA is not simply about CPD points. It is about strengthening a collective voice that argues, persuasively and persistently, that pain deserves priority. It is about ensuring that when national policy discussions occur, pain expertise is present. It is about building a generation of clinicians who approach pain with scientific rigour, compassion, and multidisciplinary insight.
If pain is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, then leadership in pain cannot be passive. It requires organisation, credibility, collaboration and vision. PainSA has reached a point where the society influences not only clinical practice, but policy, education and research direction in South Africa.
The question is no longer whether pain matters. The evidence is unequivocal.
The real question is whether we, as a professional community, are prepared to match the scale of the problem with equal ambition.
References
- GBD 2019 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators. Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet. 2020 Oct 17;396(10258):1204-1222. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30925-9. Erratum in: Lancet. 2020 Nov 14;396(10262):1562. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32226-1. PMID: 33069326; PMCID: PMC7567026.
- Goldberg DS, McGee SJ. Pain as a global public health priority. BMC Public Health. 2011 Oct 6;11:770. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-770. PMID: 21978149; PMCID: PMC3201926.
- International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Global Year for Excellence in Pain Education (2018). Available at: https://www.iasp-pain.org (Accessed 2026).