By Gill Bedwell.
Pain is one of the most common reasons people seek healthcare, yet pain is not listed among South Africa’s national health priorities. Historically, pain has been viewed primarily as a symptom rather than a health issue requiring systematic assessment, prevention, and management. As a result, it has often been overlooked in health policy despite its substantial impact on patient outcomes. However, pain does more than accompany disease: it can shape recovery, function, quality of life, and healthcare utilisation.
Pain is embedded within South Africa’s major health priorities: trauma and violence, mental health, maternal and child health, and non-communicable and infectious diseases. Patients recovering from trauma or surgery experience acute pain that requires timely assessment and management. People living with HIV, tuberculosis, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and other chronic conditions frequently experience chronic pain that affects daily functioning, limits a person’s ability to work, and places additional strain on families and healthcare services. Additionally, as the South African population ages, the number of people living with painful musculoskeletal conditions and multiple co-morbidities will continue to grow. In many cases, effective pain management is essential to achieving the very outcomes our health system is working towards: faster recovery, reduced disability, improved quality of life, and more efficient use of healthcare resources.
Importantly, pain management is not the responsibility of one profession alone. Nurses, general practitioners, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, pharmacists, surgeons, anaesthetists, and many others all have an important role to play. Good pain care involves listening to patients, understanding the many factors that contribute to pain, using evidence-based treatments, and working collaboratively across disciplines. Every healthcare interaction is an opportunity to improve a person’s pain experience.
South Africa has made progress in addressing many major health challenges over the past decades. As we continue to strengthen our health system, pain deserves greater attention – not because it is separate from other health priorities, but because it is embedded in them. Improving pain care has the potential to enhance outcomes across trauma, surgery, cancer care, non-communicable and infectious diseases, rehabilitation, mental health, and palliative care.
PainSA is committed to improving pain care across South Africa through education, advocacy, research, and multidisciplinary collaboration. We are also leading the development of a National Pain Strategy, which aims to support a more coordinated, equitable, and evidence-informed approach to pain management in our country.
Whether you are a healthcare provider, researcher, student, policymaker, or person living with pain, you have a role to play, and we encourage you to join this conversation as we work towards ensuring that every person in South Africa has access to high-quality, evidence-based pain care. Recognising pain as a cross-cutting health priority is not simply about reducing suffering. It is an opportunity to improve recovery, reduce disability, strengthen our health system, and ultimately improve the lives of millions of South Africans.