As yet, palliative care services have not been identified in Tunisia, but there is evidence of growing interest. In September 2004, the 4 th Europe-Maghreb conference was held in Tabarka ( Tunisia) and adopted the theme Pain and Supportive Care: Current Advances. (The Maghreb is a region that includes Tunisia, Morocco, and Tunisia).

Significantly, nurse educator Françoise Porchet ( Switzerland) and three European colleagues, Gisele Schaerer ( Switzerland), Philip Larkin ( Ireland) and Sophie Leruth ( Belgium), were invited to provide a full day of training. With the exception of Philip Larking, all had been speakers at the previous conference in 2002.

Reporting on the conference in 2005, the address the issue of palliative care accessibility in the Maghreb and write:

Home care does not exist in the Maghreb; it is the family and/or community that provides any care. A huge distance has to be covered, sometimes as much as 1000km, to visit the specialised oncology centres – the few places where consultations on dealing with the treatment of pain are available.²