ABSTRACT
Health economics offers a mode of thinking which can assist in arriving at possible solutions to the often contentious problems in dealing with pain and its management, based on the concepts of effectiveness, efficiency, and equity. Pain represents a major clinical, social, and economic problem and one which has challenged generations of healthcare professionals across many continents as they attempt to provide relief to reduce the suffering caused by pain. The extent of chronic pain poses a significant economic burden for patients, their families, health services, and societies. Estimates of the economic burden associated with pain fail to do justice to the extent of suffering and reduced quality of life experienced by patients and warrants pain relief being regarded as a universal human right. The common denominator, usually expressed as quality adjusted life years is arrived at by adjusting the duration of the outcome by the utility value of the resulting health status.
