Paediatric Palliative Care

We often hear about adult palliative care but rarely in a paediatric context; so what is child-specific palliative care?
The World Health Organization defines palliative care for children as:

The active total care of the child's body, mind and spirit, and also involves giving support to the family.

Palliative care focuses on enhanced quality of life for the patient and family members for as long as is necessary. It affirms life and regards dying as a normal process, it aims to neither hasten nor postpone death.
The home environment is considered the best place for care delivery for a child living with a serious illness, for this reason one of the main aims of paediatric palliative care is to provide multidisciplinary family-centred home-care which facilitates the social integration of the children and their families.

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What we do

Palliative care is is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach that focuses on improved quality of life for patients with serious, complex illness by providing relief from pain and other symptoms and support for the family unit.
Since its beginnings the Maruzza Foundation has been engaged in the palliative care and pain management sector and, thanks to the valuable contribution of prominent national and international experts, it has realized many significant initiatives and important projects aimed at healthcare professionals and the general public.

Support our work

Together we can do much more.

Children’s Palliative care is the only appropriate and effective care solution that a truly civil society can provide for children with incurable illness and their families.

To be able to achieve this, we need your help. Your donation will help us to raise awareness of the important benefits of children’s palliative care and to promote better access to children’s palliative care services globally.

Remember that the Italian tax system offers tax benefits in the form of deductions from taxable income or tax credits to certain categories of socially important institutions.

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About us

Each day we strive to ensure the right to access to palliative care and pain therapy for all those who need it.

The Maruzza Lefebvre D’Ovidio Foundation is a registered non-profit organization, based in Italy that was established on the 7th October, 1999, by Antonio and Eugenia Lefebvre D’Ovidio to honour the final wishes of their late, beloved daughter Maruzza.

In 2013, the Foundation received the Gold Medal of Merit for services to public health from the President of the Italian Republic.

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Our stories

Let's talk about palliative care for children! #quellavoltache

The time that...

What was your first impression of children’s palliative care? Who, what or which experience had a lasting effect on you? In this virtual space we would like to share experiences and thoughts about the implications, impact and transformations that care provision for children affected by serious illness and their families has fostered.

These are our stories; you too can join the conversation by sending us your own brief video story to: info@maruzza.org

SEE THE STORIES >