Modern medicine is divided into three categories, namely preventive, curative and palliative. Palliative medicine and palliative care focus on people sufering from progressive incurable diseases with an expected fatal outcome, as well as their family members. It is conducted by an interdisciplinary palliative team at all levels of health care. Palliative care is a broader term than palliative medicine, as it encompasses other activities carried out by social welfare institutions as well as civil society organizations, religious institutions and other stakeholders in the community. Although elements of the palliative approach have been encountered throughout history since the beginning of medical treatment, in the last fifty years we have witnessed the rapid development of palliative medicine as a distinct specialization and subspecialisation in many countries around the world. Palliative care is a civilizational step forward and a true example of person-centered medicine. Given the aging population and the growing technological capabilities of modern medicine, we expect a large increase in the need for palliative care which requires the active contribution of all participants involved in creating and implementing social and health policies, both locally, nationally and internationally. This paper presents the historical development and current state of palliative medicine in the world with special emphasis on the situation in Croatia. Keywords: palliative medicine; palliative care; palliative team; quality of life; strategic plans; person-centered medicine; total pain; education. Suvremena se medicina dijeli na preventivnu, kurativnu i palijativnu. Palijativna medicina i palijativna skrb bave se osobama koje boluju od progresivnih neizljecivih bolesti s ocekivanim smrtonosnim ishodom i clanovima njihovih obitelji. Provodi ju interdisciplinarni palijativni tim na svim razinama zdravstvene zastite. Palijativna skrb je siri pojam od palijativne medicine, jer obuhvaca i brojne druge aktivnosti koje provode institucije vezane uz socijalnu skrb kao i organizacije civilnog drustva, vjerske institucije i drugi dionici u zajednici. Iako elemente palijativnog pristupa nalazimo u ljudskoj povijesti otkad postoji lijecenje, zadnjih pedesetak godina svjedoci smo naglog razvoja palijativne medicine kao posebne specijalizacije i subspecijalizacije u brojnim zemljama u svijetu. Palijativna skrb je civilizacijski iskorak i pravi primjer medicine usmjerene prema osobi. Obzirom na starenje populacije i sve vece tehnoloske mogucnosti suvremene medicine, ocekujemo veliko povecanje potreba za palijativnom skrbi, sto zahtijeva aktivno sudjelovanje svih koji sudjeluju u kreiranju i provodenju socijalnih i zdravstvenih politika zajednice, kako na lokalnoj tako i na nacionalnoj i medunarodnoj razini. U ovom je radu prikazan povijesni razvoj i sadasnje stanje palijativne medicine u svijetu, s posebnim naglaskom na situaciju u Hrvatskoj. Kljucne rijeci: palijativna medicina, palijativna skrb, palijativni tim, kvaliteta zivota, strateski planovi, medicina usmjerena prema osobi, totalna bol, edukacija.