IAHPC has been a guiding institution for my professional development in the field of Palliative Care for more than 15 years. In 2007 I was starting my medical practice as a palliative care physician in a newly formed university program in Chile and IAHPC supported the implementation of this program by helping me to do an internship in the palliative medicine centre at MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas, where I was hosted by Dr. Eduardo Bruera. Subsequently, they continued to support me and thanks to them I was able to attend scientific congresses of the European Association of Palliative Care, which was the starting point for the development of my career as an academic palliative care physician, work that I have done to this day seeing results in the areas of research, undergraduate and post-graduate medical education, as well as in the field of advocacy related to the recent recognition of the specialty of palliative medicine in our country. Today I look back and feel gratitude for the concrete support I received from IAHPC at the beginning of my career, but also for the inspiration caused by the consistency that its leaders have shown for so many years of work transparently oriented to relief health related suffering of so many people in the world.
It is thanks to the IAHPC scholarship that I have become a true palliative care professional ready to act when duty calls.
IAHPC, thank you once again for your support to those who are fighting to facilitate access to palliative care, especially in low-income countries.
Many thanks
The IAHPC is an incredible organization, always worried about us palliative care workers about the globe. I was given a grant for travelling to a scientific meeting, and thanks to that I was able to make contacts useful for my practice and research projects. As a member, I was able to follow the original courses they have design for us. They are always up to date giving us insight of the newest information, which is passed on to us through the monthly newsletter. Overall, I am very grateful with the IAHPC and wish them to prosper so they can help more people. That's why I decided to become a lifetime member.
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My name is Tatiana Fernández from Ecuador . Thank you IAHPC for giving me the opportunity to attend important scientific events in LatinAmerica. They helped me attend the México ALCP Congress 2016 and the Costa Rica ALCP Congress 2022. I also was the president of the Ecuadorian Association of Palliative Care, from 2017-2021, and I can say we received the help of IAHPC in many ways, like education, they taught us advocacy, they told us how to help include Palliative Care in important documents of the WHO, and we were articulated with the other countries as well. They always have been there for us, that's why I decided to become lifetime member. I Thank you with all my heart.
The International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) has been an extraordinary support for me while living in a low-income country. They have provided high-level series of palliative care webinar presentations from which I have benefited greatly in terms of clinical care services and academics. The knowledge and skills gained from these webinars have enhanced my ability to provide quality care and have enriched my academic pursuits. I believe that further integration of such resources and support from IAHPC can significantly contribute to the improvement of palliative care services in low-income countries.
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I am Gezahegn Bekele Dadi, an associate professor of adult health nursing at Hawassa University in Ethiopia. Currently doing research on palliative care and actively engaged in training health professionals on palliative care. IAHPC gave me the scholarship to attend the online international conference organized by the European Palliative Care Association. It provided me with an excellent opportunity to learn from senior researchers. IAHPC has been excellent at raising awareness, creating actionable plans for improvement, facilitating education, and advocating globally for increased access to palliative care. Really, IAHPC is helpful.
Sincerely,
IAHPC has been a great partner for many LMIC advocating for access to affordable palliative care services and pain-relieving medications, giving direction and technical support when needed. Keep up the great work!
The IAHPC provides excellent clinical education! It is well researched and presented by skilled and qualified teachers, and because it is recorded and published on the website, it is readily accessible to review.
The cost of membership is minimal compared with the benefits.
It is also good to be made aware of international trends and issues related to hospice and palliative care, and to better understand the privilege (and therefore responsibility to others) of living in a wealthy country where these services are freely available.
This organization has been my go-to. as I volunteer to help teach palliative care around the world. Their resources and networking are simply amazing. I recommend this organization to all sites I visit around the globe.
International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care Inc is truly a Global Organisation doing a wonderful yeomen service and vows to improve the Quality of Life of the terminally ill as well as those who suffer in agonising pain and distressing symptoms often cursing themselves for non of their sins. IAHPC is working on multiple domains such as Awareness, Advocacy, Education, Empowerment and Grooming the Palliative Care Professionals of all levels Internationally.
I am recipient of it LEAD Grant India through Cancer Aid Society towards "National Program on Palliative Care Advocacy & Awareness". The Grant has enabled me to work across the Country on Palliative Care awareness and advocacy in Collaboration with National Association of Palliative Care for AYUSH & Integrative Medicine. The Palliative Care Declaration prepared under the Grant has been endorsed by thousands of people from all corners of the Country.
My heartfelt thanks to the IAHPC for the LEAD Grant.
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I am highly impressed with the functioning of IAHPC which is trying to address a very noble cause of relieving the sufferings of the terminally ill patients of Cancer & other chronic illnesses; that too Globally. The Scholarships provided to the palliative care professionals helps in exchange of knowledge facilitating the transfer of the best practices throughout the World.
My best wishes to IAHPC inall future endeavours.
Keep up the Good work.
IAHPC is a great association that funded me to attend, two months ago, the World research congress in palliative care. The staff member I was in touch with, was very helpful and professional. Without this grant I would not been able to attend this conference. IAHPC has a lot of useful resources on their website and they work hard to follow their mission, I'm very grateful about your work. Thank you!
I am very grateful with the IAHPC, as they supported my attendance of the 13th Research Conference of the European Association of Palliative Care in Barcelona (2024).
Good night. Winning the scholarship awarded by the IAHPC and being able to attend the XI Congress of the Latin American Association for Palliative Care ALCP, in Cartagena Colombia, gave me the opportunity to participate as a speaker, present a research poster and meet people with the same interest and predisposition to generate work networks with different countries. I thank you again for this opportunity and it motivates me to to continue improving my work in palliative care.
Vanesa Rocio Orellana Caro, Bolivia.
I am happy to provide this testimony about the great support my organization and myself get from IAHPC.
I received many online trainings from IAHPC mostly on advocacy on palliative care. This tremendously enhance my expertise in the field and my capacity to convince people to commit to palliative care. I also had the great chance to get a grant to participate to the EAPC 2022 congress online.
Finally I was the happy grantee of the IAHPC LEAD project. With this support, I was able to raise awareness on palliative care in two of the 13 regions in Burkina Faso including Koudougou and Gaoua. We even set up in these regions two regional steering committees with the objective to start providing palliatice care and relieving health related severe suffering, using morphine medicines. This is a new and exciting experience for me and I hope it will impact many end-of-life patients, contributing not to add days to their lives, but to add life to their remaining days.
I would like to thank the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care Inc for providing the opportunity and the scholarship to participate to the EAPC 2023 18th world congress. I earned the chance to increase my knowledge on the topic of palliative care and share these experiences and fresh ideas with the Armenian community. Participating in the congress has given me the chance to meet the members of EAPC from different countries and nationalities. All of these have given me new ideas to update my everyday work and better the palliative care work in our center. I appreciate the amazing work the EAPC team does and once again thank you!
My name is Duong Le. I am a palliative care physician in Vietnam. Palliative care is a new field in Vietnam, as a result, I would need to be connected to a supporting community of professionals in order to learn and grow. As a professional association, IAHPC provide not only networking supports for all the member, they also provide us with continuous education through various webinars regarding symptom control, advocacy and other issues of palliative care around the world. We feel like a community of passionate healthcare workers working together to alleviate sufferings for human. Besides, they also provide financial support as travelling scholarship for emergent leaders, experts in palliative care to go to various conference to connect and to promote the work on palliative care from their own countries. I hope IAPHC would continue the work of connecting, educating and advocating for the provision of palliative care worldwide so that nobody has to suffer especially at the end of life
My name is Gerla Koleci,
I work as home care doctor in” Mary Potter” Palliative care Center, in Korçë, Albania since 2004.
As a member of IAHPC, I have had the opportunity to participate in many events, organized by this Association. IAHPC has supported me financially through Scholarship, to be part in some congresses and conferences. During my participation in these events, I have increased my knowledge on palliative care, shared experience with my colleagues form many other countries and learned more about the challenges and the development of Palliative care all over the world. Attending these activities, I have understood better how important is the education and collaboration with colleagues for a palliative care with quality and standards for people in need of it.
IAHPC is a great opportunity for me and many palliative care providers.
Thank you IAHPC for what you have done and are doing for further development of palliative care all over!
Hello, I am a palliative doctor from Nicaragua, in my country there is no training in universities for palliative care, however thanks to IAHPC I was able to attend the X Latin American Congress of Palliative Care, where I was able to be close to great medical personalities, to be able to learn thanks to the conferences and to be close to those who make a change in this beautiful specialty, I have been working with cancer patients for 7 years and it has been this organization that has helped me in my training through countless support and study opportunities.
For professionals from low-income countries, the IAHPC is of great support in granting scholarships that develop a study opportunity, as was my case.
I am pleased and happy for the scholarship given to me by IAHPC. I was able to learn a lot from the expert in palliative care Worldwide. I was given US $750 which was able to supported me on traveling cost from Lesotho to Uganda. My participation in the 7th International African Palliative Care Association Conference, on24-26 August 2022, in Kampala Uganda was not only so educative to me but was also able to assist me on the palliative care policy implementations.
thanks to IAHPC for your generosity and please continue with a good work.
Tonny Mwabury
Palliative care physician
Najojo Better Living Mission Association Lesotho
My name is Irena Laska.
I’m working in palliative care since 25 years and actually I lead a team that provides services for cancer patients in the south-eastern region of Albania.
I’m the member of IAHPC for many years. Being part of this important organization for Palliative care all over the world, it helped to meet colleagues from other countries and to know the achievements and challenges of palliative care all over. All together we have shared information about the quality and standards of the provision of palliative care, but also the challenges that we face during our daily work.
Thanks to IAHPC, I have been part of several International Conferences/Congresses about Palliative care. These activities have helped me to increase my knowledge and skills, becoming a better expert in providing this service and an advocater for solving the challenges faced by patients in need for palliative care.
Being a member of IAHPC keeps me informed with every situation and intervention that is done by the main actors for the extension and development of PC all over the world.
IAHPC is the main actor that continuously support PC providers and through them provides a better service for patients in need, quality of life and an end with dignity for them. This organization does an extraordinary job in promoting PC all over the world.
Thank you IAHPC!
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IAHPC membership has had a positive impact for the entire staff and the service we offer. It helps us to increase the number of services and offering them with standards and high quality.
IAHPC had made possible participation of staff members in important international activities such as trainings, conferences, congresses which had enlarged the collaboration network with colleagues from all around the World. In these meetings we had been known with challenges, achievements and future plans for a better PC in the World. These activities have been particular accesses in development of PC in the region and our country.
The periodically newsletters sent to us from IAHPC, had given the valuable important information about everything that is happening in the PC field everywhere. We have used this important information in doing lobbing and advocating campaigns for PC in our country.
We have been lucky having these opportunity, and would like that more professionals working in PC to have facilities to learn more from each other and experts of PC from around the World.
Thank you to IAHPC for all you are doing to develop PC everywhere and to make it possible for every one!
IAHPC does an excellent job of promoting and advancing palliative care around the world. Their educational resources are very useful in our practice. The financial support they give to deserving travelling scholars has allowed them to attend international conferences which has a multiplier effect once the fellows return to their country and share their knowledge with their colleagues and trainees in their institution. Through IAHPC, we get to network with colleagues from other institutions abroad.
IAHPC is a profesional and excelent organization for patients and their families with palliative care needs.
IAHPC had colaborated in many ways in Guatemala for the expanssion to alleviate of suffering in our population. I received a fellowship to support my medical education in the field of palliative care.
Relief of suffering in under-resourced and under-represented areas of the world is a huge need that not many organizations are focused on addressing. IAHPC has been excellent at raising awareness, creating actionable plans for improvement, facilitating education and advocating globally for increased access to palliative care. I've been able to work with them on some projects and have been very impressed.
The IAHPC makes the reality of palliative care visible worldwide. They collaborate for the development of palliative care worldwide. Tania Pastrana's article comments are of very good quality and allow us to keep up to date. Thank you very much for your contributions to the development of palliative care.
Sofia Bunge
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IAHPC is a very active organization.
From training, research, support to different professionals, creation and access to good quality material for consultation. It offers different programs, and very good resources that are available in its site.
Above all, it has a very important role in advocacy.
The organization has helped me in many ways to enhance my activities in the field.
It helped me to upgrade my skills and knowledge in advocacy.
IAHPC is fundamental for the advance of palliative care in the world!
Those of us who had or have had contact with IAHPC know how successfully it carries out its mission. I will comment on the positive effect it had on my professional development.
I am an anesthesiologist. I am 76 years old and live in a city in the interior of Argentina - a developing country. I started CP in 1981-82 and retired from the clinic at the beginning of the pandemic.
In small towns like mine, far from university centers, the routine of daily activity generates a comfort zone in which we forget to learn and - in this case - we admit suffering without control ... ("it is normal ... this disease always generates pain ...").
How is the comfort zone maintained? By ignoring the patient's situation, remaining inactive, or performing futile or dangerous procedures.
To change it is necessary to find a new activity or a new knowledge, which surprises and motivates us, and which helps us to get out of that routine and to generate productive time.
The IAHPC made that change possible.
What were the benefits of this opportunity? What did I achieve?
- I had more tools to solve problems
- I had more information to solve everyday situations.
- I lost the fear of trying new things.
- I met people with similar interests
- I reduced the stress generated by impotence.
- I increased my self-esteem.
- I did different things to find different results.
- I learned to do what I wanted to do, and to love what I did for 40+ years.
- To wake up every day motivated by what I would do.
Your scholarships enhanced my knowledge and, more importantly, allowed me to participate in international educational activities and network with other colleagues.
My comments may give the idea that the change was easy... it was not. But IAHPC guided me to initiate small actions, such as adding components to treatments or considering new research options.
Simply put: IAHPC showed me the dark side of the moon. Thank you.
IAHPC is a dedicated organization that truly advocates constantly and tirelessly for access to palliative care to relieve the suffering of millions living globally with serious illnesses. Especially when it comes to access to controlled substances (opioids) for pain management, IAHPC is continuously on the front line for international, and national meetings bringing the voice of millions of palliative care patients, who need available affordable, and accessible medications. IAHPC functions as an important partner, with many NGOs and international governor bodies in LIC, and LMIC to ensure access to essential medicines for palliative care patients and to provide education, and training for healthcare professionals across the system to educate about safe prescribing, availability of controlled substances, and symptom management for patients living with serious illnesses. As an IAHPC board member, I am honored and privileged to be part of such an inspiring organization that has a clear vision and mission to advance palliative care education, access, and research globally.
We usually take where we have arrived for granted not realising that there are people who worked tirelessly to help us get here. I feel all of us in palliative care owe a debt of gratitude to IAHPC and it’s dedicated team of professionals.
Over the years, I have watched them work with sincerity to get palliative care on the global health agenda as well as lend a helping hand to those in need of assistance to set up palliative care services in different parts of the world. CanSupport, the palliative care organisation in India which I founded 25 years ago, has benefitted immensely from their consistent encouragement, advocacy, training and expertise.
As a board member, I feel extremely privileged to be part of the team today. I would urge all those who want to see a world where serious health related suffering is dealt with effectively and compassionately to get behind the IAHPC. Our collective future lies with the humane vision of this outstanding non-profit.
Working as a palliative provider in Zambia , I have been honoured to work with International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care as an Advocacy Focal Person for Zambia in 2022. This organisation has afforded me a platform to speak about Palliative Care in Zambia at various fora, including the World Health Organisation, adding my voice to the call to increase access to Palliative Care medicines to countries like my own.
The many learning resources for healthcare workers and families that are available through IAHPC continue to be an invaluable resource to me as a palliative care provider and advocate.
IAHPC continues to support Palliative care across the world and I am proud to work with them to raise awareness about Palliative care, engage with government and medical training institutions to have Palliative Care included in every conversation around Universal Health coverage.
International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care provides an excellent help and advocacy around the world.
It collaborates with passionate Palliative care providers to elevate Palliative Care, as well as provide ongoing world class education, superb advocacy, and a so much needed help.
It is one of the strongest organizations in the world advocating for having opioids for patients with terminal illness.
IAHPC serves as an important collaborator with other Palliative Care organizations to multiply efforts to assist low-income countries to eliminate suffering.
As a life member of this organization, I need to say that I am honored and proud to be a member and so fortunate to work with outstanding people such as Dr. Pettus, Liliana De Lima, among others, who serve as excellent role models.
The IAHPC is a powerhouse of support and training to palliative care organizations and professionals, global advocacy, and a strong voice in defence of each palliative client. Since our Visiting Hospice NNPCN in NE Ontario, Canada became an IAHPC member for life, we saw our efforts multiplied in effectiveness, under the umbrella and strong leadership of the IAHPC. I can't thank IAHPC leaders enough. They make a powerful difference for palliative care worldwide.
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IAHPC is one of the most active voices for palliative care in the international community. My organization, Near North Palliative Care Network, is a Visiting Hospice in Northern Ontario, Canada. We became a member for life of the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) for many reasons. The most important is that we have the opportunity of helping with Palliative Care Advocacy and Focal Point of Canada, under the extraordinary leadership of Katherine Pettus. The information, research and services provided by the IAHPC to members is nothing but extraordinary. They Board and Staff are highly qualified, their services to members are extraordinary, and they have not only my respect, but the respect of the international community. Hats off!
IAHPC is actively changing the world! This non-profit organization defines "small but mighty." With less than a handful of paid staff, this organization manages to support, teach, advocate for, and connect clinicians and programs around the world. It also is actively engaged in international policy work that then influences governments around the world to prioritize palliative and end-of-life care, and the medicines necessary to practice this care well, for the most vulnerable. I can't speak highly enough of how this organization works to make the world a better place every single day.
IAHPC is a great organization. I’ve been working as a pediatric palliative care practitioner for six years. And since last year I’ve being working on advocacy as well. I have found enormous mentorship and support with in IAHPC. Definitely an important civil organization working towards accessibility, equity and development of universal coverage in palliative care.
The IAHPC is a fantastic organization, which has embraced me into a global movement for change. After 20 years of experience as a specialist palliative care physician and educator, I decided to move into advocacy. IAHPC has supported me through its excellent advocacy course, its policy resources and generous mentorship. IAHPC gave me the opportunity to be a palliative care advocate at international level, connecting me to a deep sense of purpose and belief that our collective, small acts will achieve universal access to palliative care.
IAHPC is the most effective nonprofit with which I have worked in my 43 years as a physician. They use their resources more effectively and efficiently to serve the greatest number in their vital work. Professionals all over the world practice more effectively and patients live with greater comfort and meaning. I’m honored to support IAHPC and more recently to serve as a member of their Board.
Thanks to IAHPC I was able to give voice to my experience as a family doctor expert in primary palliative care, in particular to give a voice to the rights of the older persons during the COVID pandemic. Thanks to Katherine's support, I was able to acquire advocacy skills and I became enthusiastic about it. IAHPC is like a family to me, where I am listened to and valued for my aptitudes and abilities at the service of improving palliative care, especially for the most vulnerable groups. I joined the cause that IAHPC supports is pivotal the development of primary palliative care in the UHC context everywhere. I hope to involve other family doctors in advocacy action. Professionals and patients may help to move Palliative Care foreward
IAHPC is an outstanding global professional nonprofit organization that consistently bridges the spheres of science, clinical expertise, education, and policy with the goals of expanding universal access to palliative care and alleviating serious health-related suffering worldwide. The leadership of IAHPC are communicative, responsive, and proactive in their roles. The initiatives, such as their COVID-19 Series Briefing Notes and the Advocacy Focal Point Program, unite inter-professional stakeholders across countries, cultures, and contexts. It is IAHPC's vision and commitment to humanity that keep international colleagues connected and encouraged to continue our shared work to expand access to high quality palliative care for all people everywhere.
Thanks, IAHPC, to provide the opportunity for Oceanic Palliative Care Conference 2021. This Virtual conference was an incredible journey to help me enhance my acknowledge and skills about palliative care.
During the conference's progress, I contact a couple of senior palliative care specialists across the country. I start to familier with some useful tools/programs that will help improve the quality of life in hospital/ community settings. I will try to introduce these valuable tools to my clinical setting in the following months. Thanks again for IAHPC's help with the scholarship.
IAHPC thanks!! Thanks to the EAPC Virtual Congress, I am able to share our findings and learn from European research expertise. We will also discuss our cultural views on the pandemic end-of-life care experienced by families and professional people from seven LA countries during a poster session. It is very significant for me, because I want to study my own research skills at this opportunity. In Argentina and Latin America I am thinking of our future research development.
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My name is Vilma Tripodoro, I am palliative care physician and researcher in Argentina. I would like to thanks the IAHPC because I went to the EAPC RESEARCH CONGRESS, in Bern. It was my first time in an European Research Congress and it was a great opportunity to share my work with colleagues and to be in contact with researchers from Europe and beyond. In addition, Bern is an amazing city and I enjoyed a lot. Thank you very much IAHPC for this travelling schollarship!
My name is Eve Namisango, I am indeed honored to serve on the IAHPC board. I credit IAHPC for their support towards capacity building for palliative care professionals through education scholarships and for giving opportunities for scholars from resource-limited settings to present their work at international conferences. I have been a beneficiary of the conference scholarship scheme in the early years of my career development and that opened opportunities for me. IAHPC is the only organisation supports champions in resource-limited settings to engage their commissioners, policymakers, and governments to include palliative care in national budgets and health systems. The latter is a unique, yet critical skill and I am forever thankful to IAHPC’s senior advocacy officer, Dr. Katherine Pettus for her tireless efforts in training palliative care professionals in advocacy and for supporting partners to shape their advocacy messages. IAHPC, thank you for being at the forefront of generating the much-needed evidence to inform advocacy and decision making and for availing this evidence-free via the website.
Being part of IAHPC for a local palliative care association like ours in Kazakhstan, is critical in keeping abreast of the latest policy developments, best knowledge and best practices locally, regionally, and globally. It helps professionals to stay aware of the current advocacy issues, as well as educational and networking opportunities worldwide. For me, as a leader of the Kazakhstan association for palliative care it is important to know, that we are not all by ourselves in trying to make palliative care equally accessible for everyone in need. The expertise, advice and support of those who have already overcome many of the barriers we are facing now, gives us strength and confidence that we are on the right path. IAHPC makes the connections between professionals, advocates, local palliative care provider communities possible. IAHPC is a dynamic organization, always in search of new and better ways to help people unite, learn, achieve, share and excel for the benefit of patients with severe incurable diseases wherever they are. I am honored to be a Board member in IAHPC and I want to thank the hardworking, creative and responsive team for giving us so much inspiraton and support!
I have had the great honor of being both an IAHPC Board member and the previous Director of the Soros Foundation International Palliative Care Initiative which supported IAHPC for several years. The IAHPC is the only international association that focuses on professional development through educational scholarships. They have led efforts to make palliative care essential medicines available around the world and their contributions to palliative medicine research have significantly increased the knowledge base in this field. Working relationships with many of the World Health Organization departments has increased WHO’s engagement and support for palliative care development and integration into national health policies. No other international association has contributed more to professional development, research and advocacy all focused on the goal of increasing access to quality care for patients suffering with advanced diseases.
They supported my attendance of the 21st International Congress on Palliative Care in Canada in 2016. They have further published some of our work in Zambia https://hospicecare.com/what-we-do/publications/newsletter/2021/07/guest-advocacy-column/
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I have been connected to IAHPC since the late 1990's including as a past board member. The vision of this organisation to improve access to palliative care services, knowledge and skills across all areas of the world, is one that I share and hold dear. IAHPC has continued to evolve and develop as a leader in the international palliative care community.
More recently, IAHPC has strengthened its role in Advocacy, appointing a dedicated person to both coordinate its advocacy efforts and also to teach about advocacy to palliative care practitioners and policy makers. This has been critical to the development of the Western Pacific Palliative Care Advocacy Network in 2020, which was closely and strongly supported by Dr Pettus, IAHPC Advocacy Officer. This is one of many examples of the impact of the IAHPC internationally, to improve the care of people at the end of life, especially in low and middle income countries.
On another personal note, IAHPC granted me a Travelling Fellowship, to travel to Bihar state in northern India, to provide teaching and advocacy in an opioid availability workshop. This allowed me to conduct an extra visit in December, 2018.
That was my first EAPC World Research Congress I took part in.
Despite that due to the established COVID-19 pandemic situation the Congress was carried out on-line, it totally exceeded my expectations. The scientific event was not only the fount of the modern clinical and research recommendations, but also an inspiration of the philosophy and wisdom of palliative care, high-level professionalism, charisma of the presenters and moderators, and life expertise from the colleagues all over the world.
The gained at the Congress scientific information is quite in need to be taken into account in the daily clinical practice; to be shared with the local National Association for Palliative Care to update the developed strategies on palliative care; to be considered while improving the existed educational curricula for medical students and healthcare professionals and to continue the ongoing integration of palliative care into the clinical disciplines, such as oncology and family medicine.
The most interesting topics I have discovered during the Congress were covering “endless actual” opioids’ correct administration, pediatric palliative care, intellectual disabilities in palliative care, work in a team and protecting the team, especially during the COVID-19 challenges, integration of palliative care into other clinical disciplines.
I’m very grateful to the IAHPC for this unique opportunity to participate into the on-line 11th EAPC World Research Congress as a holder of the Traveling Scholar of the new virtual format created by time and situation.
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My name is Natalia Carafizi and I'm a specialist in palliative care from Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova.
I am most grateful to the IAHPC for the provided Travel Scholar Fellowship to attend the 16-th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care held in Berlin, Germany on May 23 – 25, 2019. It allowed me to present the poster entitled “Initiating the Development of Palliative Care Service in Transnistria”, which describes the activities, related to the development of palliative care through all the regions of Moldova, even those with the existed political and economical particularities.
I also felt very honorable to take part in the pre-Congress PACED session, which first time in the history of the EAPC Congresses took place and aimed the unification of the ex-USSR countries, where the current status of palliative care in each country apart was discussed, alongside with the existed barriers and options to overcome them.
The presented at the Congress scientific information was quite modern, either to be implemented into the daily clinical practice together with colleagues, to be shared with the local National Association for Palliative Care to use for development of further strategies or to be taken into account while improving medical curricula for both medical students and nurses.
I am very grateful to the IAHPC for giving me this wonderful opportunity, without which my attendance of the Congress and the gained experience would have never been possible.
IAHPC has been a great partner for many LMIC advocating for access to affordable palliative care services and pain-relieving medications, giving direction and technical support when needed. Keep up the great work!
Our experience with IAHPC has been satisfactory in several areas of development of Palliative Care, mainly in the generation of public policies aimed at facilitating access to care for advanced chronic diseases in the health system and allowing the availability of essential drugs for control of pain and other distressing symptoms, IAHPC is always a strategic ally so that as a country and region we can advance in the benefits that palliative care brings to our population, the role of IAHPC is fundamental for the advancement of palliative care in the world.
I have worked in international hospice and palliative care for 20 years and was always impressed with IAHPC long before I joined their Board. They manage to touch countless lives through education, leadership development and advocacy efforts in ways that marshal their resources very wisely. In terms of impact for every dollar donated or spent they have the greatest influence of any organization with whom I've ever worked.
IAHPC is the voice for the voiceless
This not for profit organization recognizes leaders and often helps unfold leadership qualities .
Supports us from different corners of the world to work towards alleviating suffering amongst our marginalized population .
Helps us work towards campaign such as “ Pain relief As a basic human right .
We become voices in international platform to echo the millions of voices that cry for help in accessing pain medication .
We feel empowered with the knowledge imparted ,and work with our government and stakeholders to solve local and international issues .
We work towards long term care , older person care and
With IAHPC we champion palliatuve and supportive care as a Universal Health Care agenda .
With IAHPC we speak for the unresolved pain amongst Refugee( FDMN ) . Be it The Rohingya or others .
We fight as frontline workers during covid and guidance received through Webinars .
We are grateful to be able to be a part of IAHPC
My membership in IAHPC is very important to me because it coincides with my personal mission. I believe effective pain and symptom relief and psychosocial support during serious illness is a basic human right, and this is not consistently occurring, even in developed countries. As a pharmacist, I struggle with the idea that people suffering with pain worldwide often do not have access to effective analgesics. This is just unacceptable. I am also an educator who has devoted her career to providing education on pain management and palliative care to a variety of audiences, across numerous platforms (open access, college level, post-graduate; didactic, experiential). I am strongly supportive of IAHPC’s mission to advance hospice and palliative care practices, education and research around the world, and I’m very appreciative of their efforts. Please continue your excellent work, never tiring, until we meet the ultimate goal of effective and efficient hospice and palliative care worldwide.
I am, Fazle Noor Biswas, working as a pharmacist in palliative care field since 2011.
In this last decade of palliative care journey, I have participated in many training, workshops and conferences on palliative care. In 2015, I have joined as an individual member of International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC). I am really grateful to IAHPC for giving me a travelling scholarship to attend 12th Asia Pacific Hospice Conference in Singapore July 2017. I have gained more knowledge by attending this conference. Specially, the workshop on the role of pharmacist given me an opportunity to develop my career in palliative care sector.
IAHPC, is one of the organizations and an international platform of the palliative care professionals with one common motive to work for the people with life-limiting illness, throughout the world.
I am proud to be a member of IAHPC and I will keep continue my membership with IAHPC. I would like to involve myself with the palliative care development nationally and internationally.
I started my membership with IAHPC in 2015 when I decided to engage myself in developing palliative care where I work first and in the future in my country. I live in Haiti and I am working part-time as a palliative care attending physician with the oncology team. Palliative care is not a well-known speciality in my country and we still don't have any national policy regarding palliative care in our country. Renewing my membership with the IAHPC helps me to have access to information about palliative care and also meeting other palliative care physicians. Since 2018, we are working with Dr Mike Gosey, a wonderful palliative care physician in the US, he helps us a lot with the training of our residents during their rotation and their annual training. We were able to know him through IAHPC.
Can you tell us why you renew your membership each year?
From a professional background of Anaesthesia and Pain management, I developed a passion for caring for patients suffering from unrelieved pain especially following cancer surgery in the 90s when strong opioid analgesics were unavailable. My involvement in palliative care increased as I acquired training at Marie Curie Hospice Centre (1995), Hospice Africa Uganda (2003) and became a member of African palliative care Association (2004). I later became a financial member of International Association for Hospice and Palliative care (IAHPC) as this gave me the opportunity to be part of the global palliative care stakeholders. The annual dues are affordable for me although I work in a developing country and I found convenient methods to remit the payment sometimes once in two years. Membership afforded me access to the IASP Newsletter which always provided current information on palliative care and easily accessible resources (including, articles, journals and books), advances in global policy and scholarship opportunities. Many of these are shared with my mentees, colleagues and students, some of whom have been encouraged to become IAHPC members.
Prof Olaitan Soyannwo
Visiting Consultant, Hospice and Palliative Care Department
University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Also, President Centre for Palliative Care, Nigeria
My name is Joseph Chisaka, a Palliative Care Physician and Lecturer at the University of Malawi-College of Medicine. I would like to thank the IAHPC for the Traveling Scholarship which enabled me to present our research work at the 6th International African Palliative Care Conference in Kigali, Rwanda which took place between September 17-20, 2019.
The conference helped me meet various people both scholars and providers from across the world where I learnt and shared a lot regarding our practice. I managed to link with some others where we planned future collaborative work in research and service provision. Some presentations at the conference answered different questions i had in palliative care and they will help in improving my practice.
I have returned from the conference motivated and equipped with new ideas to move my palliative care practice to higher levels as a Physician, a researcher and a Lecturer.
I am Olanrewaju Onigbogi, a Public Health Physician from Nigeria with interest in the public health aspects and community acceptability of palliative care in Nigeria. I was supported by the IAHPC to attend the International Conference of the African Palliative Care Alliance in Kigali. It provided a rare opportunity to learn and network extensively with co-researchers. I would always be grateful for the opportunity.
Traveling scholarship of the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care is great opportunity to me to present our research work in palliative care to the international audience in the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference (OPCC) - 2019 in Perth, Australia.
Meet with experts, networking, and listen and read the research activities of international world-class palliative care have helped me to broaden my understanding of palliative care. I have already built up some connections with scholars in this event for future collaboration. That will be a great opportunity for me to initiate further collaborative research or commence palliative care educational activities for my nursing students as a Senior Lecturer in Nursing, attached to the Open University of Sri Lanka.
IAHPC is a fantastic organization to work with and we are proud to be associated with them for over 10 years. They have supported several of our film projects including on children's palliative care and adult palliative care in dozens of countries worldwide. We have also collaborated with IAHPC to create a series of inspirational short films showcasing their important work in global health. They are so great to work with. Highly recommended!
In 2017 two doctors Rita Kabasinskiene and Marija Inesa Poniskaitiene and spiritual assistant Lina Jakele of our Hospital received the grants from IAHPC to participate in the 15th International Congress of Palliative Care in Madrid. We were from one team so we decided to write you together in order to avoid recurrence. We are very thankful to IAHPC for the possibility to participate in the Congress. We have gained a lot of experience in different fields of palliative care.
The development of palliative care in Lithuania continues. We strive to contribute to this through our capabilities. In the Ministry of Health a new Order was prepared to supplement the old one. It expanded the palliative care team to include a psychologist and a nurse assistant; introduced a new term “Hospice” for our country and touched on some other issues. Fentanyl tablets for the treatment of breakthrough oncologic pain registered this year also. These drugs fully reimbursed to oncologic patients. It considerable have changed the quality of life of our patients.
Lina was the first spiritual assistant in palliative care. Thanks to her work, the spiritual mission service at our hospital has expanded significantly. It consists of a chaplain, assistant and quite a large number of volunteers. Lina is the curator of student spiritual nursing practice at our hospital and teaches palliative care at St. Ignatius College in Kaunas. Other organizations were also interested in spiritual help. Jakele became a public instructor after completing Last Aid courses in palliative care, conducted by German lecturers.
Rita and Lina give lectures in training courses on palliative care.
We enjoy that more and more volunteers become involved in Palliative Care. We give them lectures, train them.
Some months ago dr. M. I. Poniskaitiene has stopped working as physician, but she became very active volunteer in our hospital. She visits also some palliative patients at home. She raises constantly her professional qualification, deepens her knowledge in palliative care, popularizes it and participates in palliative care conferences.
Attending of the Congress influenced our work directly and improved our competence as physician, spiritual assistant and researcher.
We wish you all success in your meaningful activity.
Rita Kabasinskiene, Inesa Poniskaitiene, Lina Jakelė
I am grateful to the IAHPC for the scholarship granted me to attend my first Palliative Care conference ( EAPC 2019). with the aid of the scholarship, I was able to overcome the challenge of lack of adequate training and education in my chosen career. I had the opportunity to interact and collaborate with global palliative care providers. Thanks to IAHPC.....…...Oyinloye Oyebukola (Nigeria)
An IAHPC grant
helped me to upgrade my skills and knowledge in palliative care.
This translates into better patient care- this is the best way that I can repay this debt.
I have also worked to transfer the learning -teaching and training other doctors and nurses to deliver pall care in other LMIC .
Less than 4 percent Indians have access to palliative care- IAHPC is working hard to “ eat this elephant “
I received a scholarship to participate in the EACP 2019. Present my work about uncertainty in palliative care in Colombia South America, I met many colleagues, I learned a lot about palliative care and I will surely apply what I learned in my country. Thanks IAHPC
Sonia Carreño Moreno. Nursing Professor.
Awesome experience with IAHPC as I got the traveling scholarship for participation in EAPC 2019. Support of scholarship motivate us to be engaged. Thank you IAHPC
My name is Elizabeth Namukwaya a palliative care physician in Uganda.
Thank you IAHPC for a traveling scholarship that enabled me to attend the European Association for Palliative care Congress in Berlin from the 23rd to 25th May 2019. This was a great experience for me as a palliative care physician and lecturer in Uganda. I was very impressed with a high standard of research at this conference and I came back home very motivated to do more research in palliative care of high quality. I also got a lot of information that I can use to teach medical students and other postgraduate student doctors. I also got information that will help me improve patient care as many of the day to day clinical puzzles I face were answered by research that was presented at the congress and some research findings presented increased my curiosity about different palliative care interventions. I was able to meet many other palliative care providers and researchers from all over the world and to get their contacts for future collaboration. After working so long with patients and teaching students my work had become very routine but this conference sharpened me and I feel revitalized to be a better physician, lecturer and to do more research in palliative care. I am grateful for all the opportunities IAHPC gives us as palliative care providers by enabling us to access several resources including journals with research in palliative care, palliative care books and for supporting palliative care providers to attend educational and research events which open our eyes to how care is given elsewhere and this enables us to evaluate our care in light of the information we get and it enhances our creativity. Thank you IAHPC also for the opportunities to meet other palliative care providers and a chance to meet renowned people in this field who inspire us to be better. Thank you to the great team which organizes all the resources and to the team at IAHPC which we communicate with on email who are very quick to respond and are very professional.
Palliative care in Albania is still a developing field that has to face great challenges.
This service is offering only by NGO’s.
The new units created by Ministry of Health at the Regional Hospitals do not have the right access and capacity to offer this service with quality and standards.
The palliative care is offered only for cancer patient and thus the chronically ill in advanced stages, suffer with pain and untreated symptoms.
Despite the information offered by PC teams, doctors and nurses are still reluctant to use the opioids to alleviate the pain; they have lack of skills in evaluation and treatment of pain.
Palliative care is not part of curricula at University of Medicine, there are only a few basic lectures in oncology subject.
The family physicians do not specialized in Palliative Care, even they are in continuous contact with this category of patients.
To face these challenges you need to have positive experiences, support and knowledge.
I have participated in a lot of activities about PC, including this Congress, that have helped me to enlarge my knowledge and professional competence in such e specific field.
This congress was very particular and worthwhile about the information that we share, for the networks we created with friends, colleagues and leaders of PC all around the world, for the discussions about our future challenges and for commitment toward this unique kind of care.
The presentations and information offered through posters and oral presentations by experts and colleagues has inspired and motivated me to continue my dedicated work in PC and to give my impute in spread and development of this service across my country.
All the sessions that I have followed have had valuable information for evaluation and management of pain and physical symptoms, the use of analgesics /opioids especially in pediatric ages.
I have realized the importance of education of healthcare professionals in PC and the various ways to find and attend educational sessions, the future plans of EAPC and also the importance of personal impute of every healthcare professional in enlargement and development of PC in his/her own country.
I also appreciated the friendly conversations with colleagues and experts of PC and the sharing of our experiences and values. This kind of communication sound very encouraging and inspiring for me because I realized that weall have to face the same challenges and to have the same commitment to be:” A voice, a vision; Palliative Care everywhere and for everyone”.
I want that all this experience to influence my work and to improve my competence like nurse and trainer in PC.
The participation in the EAPC congress was a privilege, a pleasure and a wonderful experience and I owe a debt of thanks to IAHPC for the traveling scholarship that they offered to me.
I would like to thank the IAHPC for their traveling scholarship. This had enabled me to attend the 3rd International Children's Palliative Care Network Conference in Durban, South Africa on May 3rd 2018. This 4-day conference was a great opportunity for networking. Listening to and exchanging experiences with people in the same field from different parts of the world had widened my perspective on how to further develop palliative care for children within my institution and in Malaysia. The plenaries and breakout sessions have given me many ideas on paediatric palliative care research that can be carried in Malaysia. Improving research in palliative care would be my priority after the conference. Thank you again, IAHPC!
I want to express my gratitude for the scholarship and to assure you that the benefit of this is enourmous for those who cannot afford to pay for such a conference, but also for those from developed countries who can learn from people from poor resource countries who manage to develop services with limited resources.
This bursary allowed me to participate in the ICPCN Annual Board meeting where we established the Strategic Plan of Developement for the next 3 years, and did discuss other current organisational issues..
Also i could attend the ICPCN Conference where I did find out news in different area of PPC from prestigious lecturers. This information will help me in my practice in the care of about 160 children needing PC and I will share the news with our staff.
Another gain was the network with international community of professionals and establishing links which can be helpful for supporting each other with difficult cases, with advocacy, research, etc. I did strengthen the links with colleagues from all over the world.
I was honored that the study which we did in Hospice Casa Sperantei Brasov was accepted as an oral presentation in the section Service Delivery. So we shared from our experience which services are most needed and more efficient. The study was very welcomed and was followed by discussions in the session moderated by Joan Marston (South Africa) and Sat Jassal (UK).
In order to disseminate the knowledge received in the Conference, I will send the information from the book of abstracts to the people from our national and regional network of PPC and I will include the up-to-date information in the courses for doctors, nurses and other professionals, courses which I teach in Romania and in the surrounding countries
The process of applying for scholarship was clear and Genevieve Napier managed very well the selection process and she was always ready to assist me with my questions.
So a big thank you to IAHPC for this bursary, and I hope you will continue the good work!
The world over, children needs palliative care help to achieve improved quality lives. The burden is even bigger in Sub Saharan Africa and unless something is done to help this region, its children suffer and die with pain. I learnt that with proper education and care resources, many children can live a pain free life and their families and communities live better without guilty feelings too, the 'what ifs' or 'if maybe we had done this'
I am deeply grateful to IAHPC for giving me a travelling scholarship to attend the 3rd ICPCN conference in Durban, South Africa.
This scholarship allowed me to present the workshop: “Accompanying the suffering stranger”. An aware exploration of the existing genuine tie between the health worker and the patient.
This experience has turned into a great professional development. And it has allowed me to create new ties to continue growing into a global network with the objective of providing the highest standards of care to those patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families.
Martín I. Mindeguía.
Physician specializing in Paediatrics & Palliative Care – Gestalt Psychotherapist.
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I am Dr.Lalchhanhima Ralte, a public health/palliative care physician from Mizoram, NorthEast India. I am a member of IAHPC since 2012 and through their scholarship program i have been given the opportunity twice to attend Palliative Care Conferences - Palliative care world congress in Montreal Canada 2012 and quite recently World research congress of the European association for Palliative care in Bern Switzerland 2018. These are conferences that palliative care physicians like me wants to attend annually for updates but impossible due to the huge financial costs involved. Those of us from developing countries are hugely indebted to IAHPC for giving us the opportunity to learn from the best, network with like minded colleagues from different parts of the work, enhance our skills and knowledge. Thank you IAHPC and donors, who have made it possible for Doctors like me, living in a small remote place in the Northeast corner of India, who without IAHPC, would have never had all these opportunities!
I am so thankful to IAHPC for the traveling scholarship to attend the 3rd ICPCN Conference 2018 in Durban, South Africa. I’m palliative care physician with no experience in children’s field. Being present in ICPCN Conference thought me children’s palliative care is not downsizing medications dosages. Although as a clinician expected to learn more about symptoms’ assessment and management. The conference was especially concentrated on inspiring audiences from different countries for "stepping out of their comfort zones" and being more active in children’s palliative care. Through the conference, I met people from different specialties who work for children and had a chance learning a lot from their amazing experiences. I have also heard for the first time about ICPCN website and decided to translate online courses for children’s palliative care to Farsi for encouraging Iranian nurses and physicians for working in this new field. Thanks again to IAHPC for making my journey easy.
Kind regards,
Mamak Tahmasebi, MD
I am so thankful to IAHPC for the traveling scholarship to attend the ALCP Congress 2018 in Santiago, Chile.
During the congress, I met people from all over Latin America working in Palliative care. It was amazing to share stories of our challenges and victories in the process of developing effective programs in our own countries. I was encouraged by the dynamic speakers who shared real life experiences, addressing the humanistic approach to handling the challenges of dealing on a daily basis with terminal illness, especially in Pediatric care. I left the conference with renewed strength to face the challenges, equipped with new tools to teach and advance education, and with lots of new ideas to implement.
Working diligently for years to open a Hospice facility in my country, I was able to visit a facility and spend invaluable time getting to know the administrators and staff that run a local hospice, Clinica Familia, in Chile. They openly shared their knowledge and experiences with me, and I now have new insights on how to make my vision a reality.
Diane D. Sabado, Dominican Republic
Dear all, I am Juliana Suarez from Colombia, a psychologist who is finishing the second year in the Specialization of Palliative Care.
Thanks to the support of the IAHPC scholarship I had the opportunity to present my degree project in the IX Latin American Congress of Palliative Care. I could understand in a greater depth the challenges in Latin America in the palliative field.
At the same time, I met several scholarship holders from the IAHPC from different countries and we had the opportunity to discuss thoughts and opinions about the practice of Palliative Care in each country.
Thanks to IAHPC for giving me this wonderful opportunity full of learning and experiences.
As a palliative care physician, I recently traveled from Tennessee to Haiti after receiving a grant from the IAHPC Traveling Scholarship Program. Palliative care is in his infancy in Haiti and I was honored to provide educational support to a Family Practice Residency training program in St. Marc. My experience was both rewarding and humbling. IAPHC made my journey easy - comfortable accommodations; convenient on ground transportation and; a wonderful and caring host.
Overall, this was a wonderful experience and I hope to return to Haiti soon. Thank you IAHPC for your great Traveling Scholarship Program.
Michael Gosey, MD
Hello everyone,
I am Yeva Asribabayan, clinical psychologist from Armenia and work to develop palliative care here. I joined IAHPC on January 2017 and was very impressed from the first moment to receive access to my personal page. So many materials! And so many possibilities to contact colleagues from around the world. I was honored to receive IAHPC travel grant to attend at EAPC 15th World Congress in Madrid, Spain. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet colleagues from all corners of the world, learn more about their experience and share my own. Currently, our team is focused on the development of the educational field in palliative care. So, I found many contacts and received interesting feedback about this. And the most impressive part were the meetings with people who have devoted themselves to the development of palliative care, and the possibility to learn from them. Last but not least, I would like to mention very kind and careful attitude toward every scholar, which makes you feel very comfortable and important.
Thank you IAHPC team for giving me so much inspiration!
The WHO defined palliative care (PC) as: "An approach that improves the quality of life of patient & families facing problems associated with advanced life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other physical, psychosocial and spiritual problems”. And the following are the bases for PC:
1) Provide PC service through an integrated multidisciplinary team consisting of physician and nurse, psychologist, religion scholar, social worker, clinical pharmacist, dietitian, physiotherapist. The team is led by physician. Up-to-date knowledge and expertise in pain management and symptoms relief are the key features of the team.
2) The PC team must have high communication skills and able to professionally handle difficult communication scenarios. The team is expected to thoroughly know about end-of-life care; Being competently able to balance between various ethical principles e.g. autonomy and beneficence.
3) The team is committed to relieving patients and their families from suffer at any stage of their illness.
Obviously, there are gaps in area of PC and shortages of well- trained health/ care providers in Iraq, a war-torn country for the last thirty five years. In spite of some of the initiatives in this regard, still there is long way to pass through in order to better care of our patients who are suffering from an advanced illnesses.
With the support of the IAHPC, I got the opportunity to attend the 5th International Public Health & Palliative care Conference, Sep. 17th – 20th 2017 in Ottawa - Canada and I gained the following:
1. Scientific update in palliative care from the sessions and posters.
2. An opportunity to closely interact with the experts in public health and palliative care who joined this meeting.
3. The knowledge and experience about establishing the palliative care at the primary health care facilities in different nations and how we can apply it in Iraq.
4. Sharing the modest experience that was developed in our country with the colleagues from other nations through conversation and discussion.
I've attended to the Public health and palliative care Conference in Canada, it was a great experience where i get a lot of new ideas and knowledge to bring back to my country.
I had also visited some hospitals in another city and attended to the Canada palliative care and hospice conference, and everything was in part because i get the scolarship from the IAHPC.
Thank you very much for making this possible!
I was granted a travelling scholarship from IAHPC to join a conference in Singapore and learnt a lot from there.
Thank you so much for this great opportunity!
Hello, I'm Pati from Georgia, MD, former International Pain Policy Fellowship program fellow. Currently PhD student, studding barriers to opioids availability and accessibility in many respects. Thus attending research program of EAPC Congress was very important for mine future search; The International Association of Hospice & Palliative Cares' Traveling scholarship gave me ability to attend the 15-th world congress and gain new knowledge and skills in Palliative Care and relevant field of search; acquired knowledge will help me to finalize my work , publish the results in international peer reviewed journals to make the voice of suffering in pain, with relevant problems sound-able for decision makers. The IAHPC team was very supportive in all aspects of communication and spreading information.
I am a palliative care nurse in Cameroon, who wanted to be more efficient in providing palliative and supportive care to people plaqued by life-limiting conditions. Conducting an online research for training programs on the topic landed me in IAHPC where I immediately contacted them.
I later signed up membership and have subsequently benefited enormously. Inhabitants of my community with life limiting health conditions of cancer, AIDS, diabetes and others now receive better care and support.
This gives me a deep sense of gratitude to IAHPC, self satisfaction of attaining my career dream and above all, my joy is complete knowing that I can be counted upon in my community among those who contribute to a better world especially for the dying.
I am a nurse in Armenia and I got to know about IAHPC when I was looking for sponsorship for participation in Advanced European Bioethics Course "Suffering, Death and Palliative Care" in RadboudUniversity Medical Center, Netherlands. I joined IAHPC and was provided with a travel scholarship to attend it in February this year. I am very grateful for the work done by IAHPC in trying to promote hospice and palliative care throughout the world and especially the support given to developing countries. I believe that by empowering as many health workers as possible in palliative care and in relatedfields even with limited resources we can go far in providing quality of life to patients with life threatening and life limiting conditions. I currently work at ICU and together with my team try to provide a holistic approach in our care of the patients. I hope that IAHPC continues to get necessary support in-order to continue this worthy goal.
Respectfully,
Maria Aleksandrova.
In October 2016, the IAHPC conducted a training workshop in Barbados. I am a pharmacist and I represented my country as the Chief Pharmacist for Belize. It was my first point of contact with this organization. The workshop was well organized, and a wealth of information was shared in the short time there. This is due to the exceptional organization done by the coordinating team.
I walked away from the workshop determine to ensure that our palliative care patients access the necessary pain management medications whiles ensuring that the concern for these medications to be diverted into the illicit channels are maintained in the balance. Since my return , I, along with the palliative care group for Belize, met with the Texas Palliative care group, in which we planned the 2017 training session in which a section will be allocated to the re-sensitization of the Pharmacists to the care and management of these patients.
At this October 2016 workshop, the love for these patients by those involved in their care was felt. The recognition of our reliance and dependence on God for all we do,was clearly demonstrated. I want to thanks IAHPC for inviting me and I pledge to do all that I can in my country to the advancement of their care, by ensuring access to these medications.
IAHPC is playing a crucial role in the building of palliative care network across the globe.
The vision was clearly noticed in the Barbados conference.
The existing Data presented and the needed future plans for the carricom islands among the participants was very note worthy.
Even though the sustained development will face plenty of challenges we can work together with IAHPC and fellow members in achieving the target.
We indeed have started working in a small way towards the goal.
An initial contact with higher administrative members have been sought.
we certainly would like to follow the initiatives taken by Dr Dingle from Jamaica.
in Obtaining QOL and adequate pain management as the primary goal.
On behalf of the my colleagues from Trinidad and Tobago i would like to extend the gratitude to whole staff IAHPC and special regards to Genevieve Napier, Dr katherine,
Dr Liliana De lima, Dr lukas Radbruch and Senior editors .
Regards
Dr Shashi Ramesh
Consultant Oncologist
Trinidad &Tobago
This year IAHPC sponsored a conference in Barbados that was for invited guests of 11 Caribbean countries. It sought to have us understand the barriers to opioid availability in our countries and develop SMART action plans. Opioid availability is important for patients with severe chronic pain and is the gold standard.
The conference was well organized, filled with knowledgeable speakers and kept us interested throughout. The shared experiences were invaluable and the mentorship provided was key to rounding off this great venture.
It was a pleasure to have attended this conference. IAHPC did a great job.
IAHPC plays a huge part in promoting clinicians resilience through sponsoring attendance at relevant conferences. I am Head of Counselling and Support Services at Island Hospice in Zimbabwe. Research we conducted into Resilience in our field of work a few years ago showed that - Resilience is boosted by networking with colleagues in the field, and ongoing education to increase both competence and confidence. Thank you IAHPC for sponsoring my attendance and presentations at the APCA conference August 2016.This conference was energizing and reaffirming in meeting so many diverse yet connected specialists in the field of palliative care.
I am a doctor in Zimbabwe, and I got to know about IAHPC when I was looking for sponsorship to do a diploma in Palliative medicine with University of Cape town. I joined IAHPC and was given a travel scholarship to attend the second contact week at UCT in June this year. I am very grateful for the work done by IAHPC in trying to promote hospice and palliative care throughout especially the support given to developing countries. I believe that by empowering as many health workers as possible in in palliative care in our setting even with limited resources we can go far in providing quality of life to patients with life threatening and life limiting conditions. I am currently working at a cancer centre and together with my team try to provide a holistic approach in our care of the patients. I hope that IAHPC continues to get the much needed support in-order to continue with this worthy cause.
I got a chance to visit my first ever International research meet. Thanks to IAHPC Travel grant, which supported my visit and registration in conference. The whole process from application for grant to receiving of grant was very smooth and transparent. Attendance at this conference helped me making new contacts in Palliative care, awareness with research ideas of western world. I would definitely thank IAHPC for this.
When my husband was diagnosed with lung cancer, we were told by the medical staff that he was incurable and could not offer any treatment and referred him to hospicecare. We were devastated and thought this was denying him care. I found IAHPC through the web, called and talked to a staff member who listened to me, clarified what hospice care is, gave us information about hospices in my area and provided ongoing support. It seem very little, but it meant the world to us.
I cannot imagine that there is a nonprofit anywhere in the world whose work is more important than that of the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC). Under the ingenious, tireless leadership of Liliana de Lima, IAHPC is reponsible for bringing pain relief and comfort to dying patients in developing countries around the world. The IAHPC is the leading organization in the world promoting palliative care in poor countries. They have made it possible for countless clinicians from poor countries to gain the knowledge and skill necessary to treat distressing symptoms in dying patients. In addition, the IAHPC organized and implemented a rigorous project that resulted in a list of essential medicines for palliative care that has set the standard for palliative care around the world. IAHPC also published the first and still the most important handbook on palliative care for the poor. Finally, the IAHPC website is the single best source of palliative care training materials, guidelines, and other documents in the world. Without the IAHPC, the field of palliative medicine would not be nearly as advanced as it is, and tens of thousands of poor people with life-threatening illnesses would not have had their suffering relieved. I strongly recommend the IAHPC for prestigious health award.
I was invited by IAHPC to participate in a process to develop a list of Essential Medicines in Palliative Care. The resulting list includes all those medications that are needed to treat the most common symptoms in patients with life limiting conditions and diseases. I was able to participate in an online survey and then in a face to face meeting organized by IAHPC where the List of Essential Medicines was finalized and approved. This list has served me and my country well: it was used as the model to develop the medicines policies for the national palliative care program.
IAHPC is a key partner in the international advocacy and education process to build global palliative care capacity. As a participant in this process, I have found the services offered by IAHPC, partcularly the International Travel Scholarships to be invaluable to bring members together; the resouces at the IAHPC website to be easily accessible and very useful to many of the people I am working with; and now the access to palliative care journals to be a key resouces, as physicians and nurses in most countries do not have easy access to literature or educational resources.I hope IAHPC will dramatically increase its reach and membership in the coming year.
I am originally from Eastern Europe and when I saw how IAHPC was supporting nurses and doctors from Russia I decided to donate. I am not a health care professional but I enjoy reading their newsletter and learning about their efforts in many countries of the world.
When I returned to my native Jamaica in 2002, after spending 12 years in the UK, working in Oncology and Palliative Medicine, I found that I was pretty much alone in promoting palliative care in Jamaica at the time. I then discovered the IAHPC which seemed to represent the "little people". This organization provides support, information, education and scholarships for health professionals principally from the developing world. I was a lucky recipient of such a scholarship in November last year when the award enabled me to attend an important educational meeting in Houston. The IAHPC is a champion for those of us in the developing world trying to advance hospice and palliative care in challenging circumstances.
We started with the Palliative Care Program 5 years ago, when nobody in our Institution had heart about Palliative Care before. At the beginning we hadn´t patients and therefore it was really difficult to get financial resources to support the Program, and at that moment the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) played a key role giving as the possibility to receive 3 years of financial support as a Faculty Development Program. At the beginning we were only one physician and one psychologist. Today we are four physicians, three nurses and two psychologist, and we work together with kinesiologist, members of the pastoral and of the psyquiatry department. But IAHPC is not only a source of funding, it’s also a great source of inspiration and education for all the professionals who are working in the palliative care field around the world. Personally, the opportunity to have been supported to attend international palliative care meetings and to know Liliana de Lima and Eduardo Bruera, was fundamental to believe in the spirit of Palliative Care represented by the IAHPC, a discipline which work to improve the quality of life of patients with advanced life-threatening conditions and their families. In our world it’s not easy to find Institution really moved by such altruistic motivations.
IAHPC is a very important organization to provide knowledge and practical help of palliative care. I've received the journals from it, and the articles in them can tell me the progression on palliative care. It also give me some oppotunities to get the scholarship to go abroad to enter the meetings on pallaiative care.
Like many others, I new IAHPC receiving the benefits it offers to the palliative care community - I used the word "benefit", but the right word is "opportunity": IAHPC gave many people - including me - the opportunity to take a look at the modern world of palliative care. I had the opportunity to become a board member, to know the institution from the inside and to participate in some of its projects. Currently it is the place where I join people willing to move forward - and this is my privilege.
I have been associated with IAHPC since early days of my career in palliative care. The organization has helped me in many ways to enhance my activities in the field. It is one of the best websites to access any information on palliative care. The newsletter is the highlight and I look forward to reading the each publication. I have also seen many of my other friends in developing countries getting hugely benefitted by various scholarships they offer and in that sense IAHPC is an organization which is truly global with an access to all.
I think IAHPC is a wonderful organisation which aims to spread the message of palliative care across the world. In this venture it helps the people to do courses in palliative care who otherwice will not be able to study becasue of the scarcity of resources. They have provided us with scholarships for doing palliative care courses in Trivandrum Institue of Palliative sciences. I know some people who has awarded with travelling scholarship by IAHPC which is very great. The IAHPC memebrs has taken keen interest to visit our organisation at Trivandrum,(Trivandrum Institute of Palliative sciences). I hope IAHPC will be able to more actively with supprot well wishers.
IAHPC has been a great source of inspiration for all of us in Pallium India. The Executive Director Ms Liliana de Lima visited our clinic in Trivandrum and went to the villages with our home care team. She showed great appreciation of our work and made some very impressive presentations about palliative care to a large group of doctors and nurses
This is a wonderful organization helping people all over the world.Through their news,letters we get to know what is happening in other parts in the field of palliative medicine.Their travel grants and scholarships help people from low income and non developed countries attend the conferences and congresses in palliative medicine.
IHAPC is a very important organization to provide knowledge and practical help of palliative care throughout the world. Its bridges developing and delveloped world in a very important way. The membership structure and the way how IHAPC has membership fees reflects the philosophy. The homepage is a powerful tool to support many people around the world. Initiatives such as best practises for palliative care highlight also how IHAPC aims to make a difference at a very basic level at every patient throughout the world. Initiatives how to promote opioid availability in many many countries are of outmost importance. IHAPC has also the talent to liase with other organizsations with the main goal to make a difference. I am proud to be part of this organization and I am very impressed and thankful how it developed.
What qualifies an organization to be called truly international? A truly international organization cannot really ignore the needs of developing countries which form at least 75% of the World’s population. The International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) stands out in the global health care scene due to its efforts to relieve pain and suffering in the developing world. I have the following specific points to make in support of the above statement: 1. It has a graded membership fee structure, by which a member from a resource poor country has to pay as little as 10 dollars a year, as against a member from an affluent country having to pay more than five times as much. 2. It has established traveling scholarship & fellowship programs as well as faculty development grants which all have helped the poor. 3. It has created several precious resources (like Essential Medicines List) which have helped people the world over.
Working with IAHPC for the past 10 years has been extremely rewarding. They are very good at their mission and I have found their efforts to be very fruitful. They put out an excellent monthly newsletter, and are targeted in their focus. Their staff are top notch, very responsive and conscientious. The Executive Director, Liliana De Lima, is a very well known professional around the globe. She is willing to assist in global efforts to improve opioid availability and patient access to pain medicines.
This organization helped me greatly by helping me find a hospice provider for my mother in another country. They were very friendly and efficient and responded to my needs with care and compassion.
Many things make the IAHPC unique. It is a small organistion with a tremendous worldwide impact, somehow achieving so much on a shoestring income.It has contributed to the development of more than 8200 hospice / palliative care services worldwide, and on its modest website experienced professionals and the newest volunteers can find the information they need to start, maintain and then excel in this essential ministry, restoring dingity for the dying, and hope for all sufferers.
The website of IAHPC is very complete and has a lot of useful information about Palliative Care, I recommend it!
IAHPC is truely value international collaboration in field of palliative care. They provide such great opportunity for study aboard scholarship, participation in delphi consensus and regular upgrade member's benefit. They make me, a Thai doctor who lack of palliative care training background, to committ in palliative care field.
IAHPC has been an extremely valuable resource in my work both as a hospice nurse and as a clinical instructor. IAHPC provides me consistently with the best information on research-based hospice/palliative care interventions and recommended treatment. IAHPC also has provided me with the majority of information I need to train my nursing students in providing care to the hospice patient. Thanks IAHPC!
I am regularly getting the IAHPC's monthly Newsletter, with reviews, Advice etc which greatly benefits & encourages me, to continue my efforts in reaching out to the Terminally ill patients, counselling, encouraging and praying for them. May the Loving Lord bless this IAHPC's work more & more for the Love of God to be felt by one and all.
It was not easy to transfer and tanscribe my Australian training and experience into reality in a poor rescource limited setting in India. As I was bewildered not knowing "How to go about", IAHPC "Getting started guidelines" were really helpful. It was like somebody has switched on the light at the end of the tunnel. With the help of these guidelines, I could start introducing palliative care to doctors, community and media, was able to set up a palliative care unit, determine staffing and infrastructure, start community palliative care and we are planning to have our own hospice. As I write this review my shoes and ends of my trousers are red with water mixed soil. I just came from the funeral of my first palliative care patient. My greatest reward is we could provide palliative care to a woman in such rural and remote setting with absolutely no resources. If this could happen IAHPC has a great role. It may not be a direct involvement in the form of an aid but thier untiring efforts in the form of providing web based resources to all of us here goes a long way in providing palliative care at an "international" level. The "association" may not be direct but we have a true bonding with IAHPC.With the help of IAHPC we will strive to improve standards and quality of care provision. I wish IAHPC all the best. May God bless everyone who spend all thier time and energy in this noble "God like work".
This organization helps hospice and palliative care all over the world. They try to help the people who need it the most in under developed countries. please donate to this cause their funds are very well distributed.
This is a wonderful organisation helping people in every nook and corner through their activities and publications. Through their news letters, people like us get to know what is happening in other parts in the field in palliative medicine. Through their travelling grants and scholarships, they help people from developing and under developed countries attend conferences, workshops and courses in palliative medicine. We get to know of books and other publications in this field from the communications send to us.
I have been providing home palliative care services in my country which is poor with respect to the needed resources. In many ways therefore we have had to be ingenious in finding solutions to the challenges. It is helpful to share the experience and knowledge on how others helped those who suffer and are dying. In this light IAHPC have been very helpful by providing the links to relevant organizations, educational materials and magazines. This is of a great value especially for the resource poor countries with limited resources for subscription.
Excellent organization which focuses on education and sharing of palliative medicine throughout the world to palliative professionals. This organization enables professionals to attend important meetings and to spend time with a palliative organizations in other countries to facilitate learning and growth of palliative programs throughout the world.
The IAHPC, give the oportunity, to received a educacion in palliative care, with the gol to starts the first service of palliative cara in my country. They give me the tools, the educacion and the suport. They send me to San Diego Hospice for learning the meaning of real palliative care.
The IAHPC is a real bridge among different countries and cultures trying to reduce suffering from threatening illness. It is not possible to imagine the amount of work done by this association helping professionals to improve their knowledge on palliative care. IAHPC it is not only interesting in doctors but nurses, social workers, psychologist and health providers. Only with this real multidisciplinary approach live will change for many people at the end of life
To share the experience and knowledge how to help those who suffer and are dying is a vocation of almost apostolic dimensions. Now IAHPC are doing even more bringing the latest palliative medicine knowledge amongst medical community by providing open access to one of the most valuable scientific magazines. This is of a great value especially for the resource poor countries with limited resources for subscription.
The IAHPC Traveling Scholarship Program was started in 1999 and is designed to provide support to palliative care workers from developing countries who wish to attend a meeting, conference, seminar, internship or any other educational activity. IAHPC has supported Traveling Scholars from many developing countries in Africa, Asia, South Pacific, South East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. To read the names of the grantees of this program, click here. Through the Traveling Scholarship Program, IAHPC is making a significant difference to the progress of palliative care in the developing world. The organization gratefully acknowledges the generous financial support of our sponsors and donors who make this program possible. This is an ongoing program and applications are accepted throughout the year. However, for certain events, IAHPC may set deadlines in order to be able to review and complete the process before the event starts. I have been involved in palliative care since 2002. We were the pioneers in the field in our region with the opulation of 3300000 and information and skills obtaining was and is of vital importance for specialists and palliative care advocates. The IAHPC supported my attendance the EAPC Congress which was held in Vienna in 2009 and the EAPC Research Congress in Glasgow in 2010. It was important to attedn the Congresses because I share the Congressws' information with Russian speaking specialists.
The International Association for Hospices and Palliative Care has helped and contributed for the development of Palliative Care around the World. Give finantial support to physicians,nurses, physicologist and diferent health profesionals to participate in educational courses in the country and in other countries. Give finantial support to attend to International Congresses They have a web page with information related with palliative care very useful for people around the world, but I sepcially mention Latinamerica, Argentina, where we have limited access to journals.
For many years I've been following the dedication and restless work of the small group of people leading and supporting this association. Because of the lack of consciousness of what palliative care really is, the mission of this association is extremely difficult. There is a huge amount of money and resources invested searching for a cure for life-threatening diseases, but every year millions of people face the disheartening reality of only some weeks of months of life left. Providing these people a minimal quality of life and some relief for the physical and psychological pain, makes all the difference for them and for their families. Unfortunately, the attention paid and the resources invested in this area, specially in undeveloped countries, are almost nonexistent. This is what IAHPC is trying to change.
In the past, I studied to become pediatric intensive care physician. The main purpose of that decision was to fight against dead. Why? Well, with our husband we had two preemies baby in different pregnancies. It was to hard to believed that we can control everything but death. After I finished the felloship when I started to work in pediatric intensive care at the social security hospital. During that time, parents taught me different answers I wasn't expected to learn. It was their way to handle lost, death, their fear and so on. I learned too much and I decided to start a planning step to organize pediatric palliative care for an oncology pediatric hospital. After two years of working hard in this they accepted the propossal and I started to work full time in palliative care since august, 2005. This institution have a great philosophy in the attention of onchologic patients but not other part of the country. So I decided to volunteer in: I volunteer as physician helping in the organization of a hospice por pediatric pallive patients in Guatemala city. Everytime we summit a plan for maintenence of a hospice all say that they give money for health not for hospice. And we continue with this dream. This is a foundation different from the hospital that I work. I volunteer giving conferences to an Association for Palliative Care Patients (Adults) in Guatemala. And also in counceling about the organization of their institution. I volunteer giving lectures in Bioethic, specially related with end of life dilemas to a public University named San Carlos de Guatemala. I volunteer giving my opinion in the redaction of a preliminary law in palliative care for Guatemala hoping that someday we will have a law in palliative care. I've been preparing as volunteer, in the education of the personal who will be enrolled in the hospice in the future. Sometimes I advice people at the end of life care in decision making process. We are working in a Bioethical comittes for UNOP.
Over the course of several years I have used the assistance if the IAHPC to help determine whether dying patients who wish to go back to their native countries can received hospice and/or palliative care services there, and how to make referrals to the agencies in their native country. They are prompt and accurate in the information they give and represent an extremely important area of clinical practice. They also give scholarships to persons to go to other countries to teach palliative care.
International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care is a gift to the global healthcare community. They are extremely effective at connecting those in need of resources with those that have resources. As an organization they are aware of each countries public policy on death and dying, and pull together resources to advocate for change when needed. They maintain a well informed website that is continuously updated with worldwide provider lists, directories, resources, and educational materials. When funding is available, IAHPC will provide traveling scholarships for those healthcare professionals wanting to expand there education through conferences and educational materials that might not otherwise be able to afford it. They have earned and deserve support from those that can.
While searching for hospice and palliative care information I found the IAHPC website. It has lots of very useful information and resources.
The International Association for Hospices and Palliative Care has helped in Latinamerica and in my case in Colombia with the strengthening of Palliative Care. They have: 1. Support Workshops with The Ministry of Health and regulators to improve opioid availability, 2. Give finantial support to physicians,nurses, physicologist and diferent health profesionals to participate in educational courses in the country and in other countries. 3. Give finantial support to attend to International Congress where I adquired tools for my professional practice 4. They have a web page with information related with pallaitive care very useful for people in our country 5. Support for our work trying to improve laws and regulations in our country.
I have been involved in palliative care for more than 20 years. During this time the challenges facing health professionals have grown in complexity and in scale. For those of us working in less developed countries, in addition to advanced cancer, end stage organ failure and progressive neurological diseases, we are now faced with HIV/AIDS and XDR TB. I have been inspired by the capacity of colleagues in the various national and international associations of hospice and palliative care to rise to these challenges. I have had the privilege of working with these colleagues in research, writing textbooks on palliative care, and more recently, participating in leadership training for physicians involved in palliative care. Without organisations such as IAHPC, we would have struggled to cope and may have given up trying to find ways to meet these challenges. I read the newsletter and review articles from IAHPC regularly every month. There is always something to learn from each edition. Many of the international associations in health care are inclined to focus on the needs and interests of North America and Europe. IAHPC is truly international in its activities and emphasis.
Website and e-mail alerts are very efficient in educating audience about issues of pain care and palliative care. Their special expertise is bringing an international focus to the subject. My understanding and viewpoint has been enhanced and broadened due to their efforts.
I am Colombian researcher living in Germany and England. In my interest in supporting the research in palliative care in Latin-American I contacted the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) and the Latin American Palliative Care Association (ALCP) in January 2010. I obtained a traveling scholarship in order to visit the V Congress of the Latin American Palliative Care Association (ALCP) in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires/Argentina. The aim of this meeting was building up a network of researchers in Latin America in order to promote research activities as well as the publication of studies in this continent. At the congress I have met hundreds of people from different countries in Latin America, but also from Europe, Canada and USA, who are interested in this region. The participation in the congress allowed me to have a better view in the situation of the research -and researchers- in Latin-America and to link with some research groups, with who I am planning new research projects and thinking about the best way to expand research in the continent. I hope that it was the start of a successful work together, aimed to improve the research in Latin America. Thanks to the IAHPC for this opportunity!
IAHPC is a patient- and caregivers- oriented organization with restricted resources. It is maintaining a very reliable website - Hospicecare.com, where one can get complete information on palliative care. You can download free materials, books; get news; and much more.
IAHPC has had a very significant impact in promoting palliative care worldwide, in particular in South America, and in providing very useful material and concrete support to help professionals working in disadvantaged environment to have access to intenational cooperation and to the palliative care scientific community. IAHPC has interpreted this role with great respect for the role of professionals and non-professional associations empowering leaders within its organization who are internationally recognized and respected.
I would like to express my positive opinion about IAHPC organization as a leader organization allover the world in the field of palliative care development and education. I wish them very best in their dedicated work for the terminally ill patients and for the development of these services around the world.
I've been a member of IAHCP for some years now and I can truly say that have witnessed the work they do and how the have succeded in a fair and honest way in their fullfilment of goals in the field of palliative care all around the world. IAHCP has helped several professionals, specially from developing countries, to achieve their academic goals, participate actively in the development of palliative care projects and minimize the finantial and social gaps in end of life care delivery. IAHPC's innovative and continuous developments have help the palliative care fiel grow stronger in many countries.
IAHPC mission is to collaborate and work to improve the quality of life of patients with advanced life-threatening conditions and their families, by advancing hospice and palliative care programs, education, research, and favorable policies around the world. and the mission is to help to increase and optimize the availability of and access to hospice and palliative care for patients and their families throughout the world. with the burden of HIV and AIDS, cancer and other life limiting illnesses, palliative care is humane way to support people at the end oif life and IAHPC is doing a great job here.
I worked with IAHPC now for five years and it is a very synergistic experience. IAHPC is very helpful for my work in the World Health Organization.
I have supported IAHPC & its principles all my professional life when involved directly and indirectly in palliative care work. Their genuine care and concern for countries still developing palliative care programs and services is unheralded. Dr Roger Woodruff, an Australian oncologist & IAHPC Board member, was the medical practitioner who helped found MEPCA and with whom I worked as part of a close-knit team with founding members(e.g. Margaret O'Connor),and other disciplines. The palliative care community worked with local businesses, volunteers (Board members & organisational members), and palliative care staff to bring a community-led palliative care program for dying people & their loved ones in the local MEPCA area. It was a fantastic model with the Latrobe University Public Health Palliative Care Unit still today capturing MEPCA's broader community framework in its Health Promoting Palliative Care understanding and framework - and being rolled out in different palliative are services across Australia. IAHPC has kept many such organisations connected and has strengthened friendships & alliances with a commitment to the ethos of hospice & palliative care around the world. Well done IAHPC!
In 2005 IAHPC came to Cyprus to support Middle Eastern Cancer Consortium (MECC) To offer their knowledge and skills in palliative care in developing countries such as in the Middle East. We have since continued to receive input from MECC trying to develop services and improve care. IAHPC has also donated easy to use manuals for doctors and nurses to keep with them at all times as a reference. One of the few books that also include paediatric doses in the manual.
I am a UK trained palliative care physician. I decided to spend 9 months working in Kerala, India as a volunteer for a fledgling palliative care NGO. My role was to help training of staff from Kerala and other parts of Asia as well as take part in general care of patients. This was an unpaid trip. IAPHC was very generous towards the funding of my living expenses for the period of time that I was there. India is not an expensive country to live in by Western standards but 9 months is also a long time. Without their help the trip would have been a lot harder for me. I found the whole experience absolutely fascinating. The approach to health, sickness, death and dying was very different to what I had experienced in the past. The options and opportunities available to patients varied widely. The time I spent in Kerala was an invaluable learning experience. While I was in Kerala, one of the senior members of the IAHPC visited the organisation. I was very nice to see a member of the organisation in the place where I was working. The website is a continually useful in interesting resource. There are reports from persons similar to myself who have visited other parts of the world and from health care practitioners from developing countries who have received funding to attend international conferences. There are reviews of books of specific interest and journal articles of interest. The organisation are strongly committed to improving palliative care around the world and spreading the message to palliative care providers in resource rich countries. I feel they do a very import job and strongly support them.
Back in 2005 I contacted IAHPC for the first time asking for help to start palliative care attention at Instituto de CancerologÃa in Guatemala, the national center for Cancer reference. The IAHPC response was immediate and of great help! I was introduced to other physicians around the world and was able to establish a personal net for inter-consultation in Palliative Care that has lasted to the present date. A month later I received a donation from the IAHPC of about 12 books related with the discipline, including the Oxford textbook of Palliative Medicine, all of them were absolutely useful since there were not educational resources for palliative care in my country and I couldn`t have had access to any printed material in Guatemala. I kept constant contact with the IAHPC from the first time, during this time I let them know about the situation of palliative care in Guatemala, I was being a pioneer in this field. There were not palliative care services or phycisians. Being a pioneer was very exiting for me, it was challenging but also was a big responsibility I was learning the principles while I was helping a lot of Guatemalans to die with dignity and without pain... but I was alone there, I needed to learn and observe good palliative care practices since it was not a familiar concept in my country, where there are considerable stigmas about end of life care and pain relief. By Octoher 2005, I sent an application and received a grant from the IAHPC to assist as a Foreign Fellow to the Palliative Care Unit at the MD Anderson which was an experience that marked a point of departure for my practice in Palliative Care. The time I spent there was busy from 6:45 to 5:00 observing patients, revising articles, participating in rounds team discussions, investigation projects and integrated care with the Palliative Care team leaded by Dr. Eduardo Bruera. The daily activity was completed making rounds and home visits at the Houston Hospice with Dr. Susan Krauter, one of the physicians that the IAHPC introduced to me some months ago. Dr. Krauter hosted me in her home and was willing to share with me the principles around hospice and end of life care, two concepts that were new for me. I`m greatful with all of them for their mentorship and help in developing my skills in palliative care. That time changed my life! It opened my eyes and my heart to many other possibilities I never imagined... I was clear that I didn`t have all the resources in Guatemala as the ones I observed in the institutions that I visited, but now I had the "whole pizza" scenario of what palliative care meant to be, a model of excelency in clinical attention, Palliative Care investigation, advocacy and education. From the start to the end, each day was challenging, a learning experience and life changing. Many of the partners around the world that followed up my beginings in Palliative Care have been close to me all this time since then, during this 5 years have some of them became, close loyal and signigicant friends, we all share our passion and work in Palliative Care. After my first visit to MD Anderson and Houston Hospice, I have been in contact constantly with the people of IAHPC and have received the newsletter in a regular basis. Through the newsletter I`ve access to great palliative care resources, I personally used the "How To Start" guide to structure a palliative care service for my institution, our unit was born with a vision of growing up to become a center of high quality in palliative care for Guatemala. Through the IAHPC newsletters I became involved in more activities and received more help to assist to other palliative care events as the Pain Policies Studies International Fellowship where I´m involved to eliminate the barriers for opioid access and availability in my country, a program that promotes the cooperative work between international experts, fellows and some of the local healthcare authorities in each country. I also applied to a period of clinical observation as an international fellow in Navarra, Spain, a scholarship support program that was created by cooperative partnership of IAHPC with other Palliative Care Associations in Latin America and Spain. I received the grant for that program and will be assisting in August and September 2010, to University Clinic of Navarra, with Dr. Carlos Centeno, one of the spanish pioneers in Palliative Care that worked to promote it as a speciality in Spain and Europe. Today, I`m completing an International Fellowship Program at San Diego Hospice, I was invited to apply to this program through the IAHPC. Nowadays, I am developing a Palliative Care Department in my hospital. My highest goal is high quality Palliative Care. I have started an education program that is now official for undergraduate medicine students. In 2007 I started a postgraduate education program for residents of internal medicine and anesthesiology that has been growing since October 2005, but still needs to be included in the official curriculum. Our team today counts with two physicians, two pshychologists a nurse and a social worker, we still work from the hospital and need to provide home based hospice as our next step. By the end of 2009 we attended 3,000 consultations, one third of them were new patients. I consult the IAHPC "Pallipedia" in a regular basis, and keep myself actualized with the articles and revisions that the IAHPC publishes. Also, I use the tools and resources for patient care provided by the IAHPC as the main source of referral to the students of medicine and residents that come to my department to receive education in palliative care. I live in an underdeveloped country, I work with the poorest population in Guatemala, with scarce resources from the government for palliative care. The generous, constant and consistent help I have received from IAHPC has been a blessing providing the finantial support that has allowed me to acquire professional education and periods of direct observation with recoginized authorities in this field, keeping me on the path of providing palliative care with the best standards of care according to my resources. There has been an important support for Guatemalan patients through my participation in all the educational activities in palliative care that where available for me through the contact with IAHPC. Each experience where I have became involved has helped me to develop new areas of attention in Palliative Care in Guatemala. One of the aspects that I really appreciate is the networking that the IAHPC offers among other palliative care professionals and institutions around the world, many of them, as I mentioned are now close and valuable fellows that share and follow our progresses in Guatemala. I also enjoy following up their work in their countries, this encourages me to go up my goals and provide palliative care based in our population needs. My devoted and sincere thanks to the IAHPC for all the support during this wonderful career as a pioneer in Palliative Care in Guatemala, I wish that the IAHPC could continue helping more nations, that as in my case start with an individual that provides palliative care in the middle of a huge population in need, scarce resources, and no education and development opportunities in their own countries
I have been able to see first hand the benefits of this organization and their hard work in the promotion and development of palliative care around the world. I receive their monthly newsletter and every month I am able to read and learn about new developments, the programs and individuals they support, how they help improve care to patients and their families.
I began to work in Palliative care and Cancer pain management during the year 2003. While doing a training in a Palliative Care service at the National Institute of Oncology in Panama as a graduate student I came to know how far I was from being able to effectively interact with patients on cancer pain needing palliative care. At that moment I was already a Pharmacology professor with almost 20 years of teaching experience, with a strong background in pain research techniques but I lacked of clinical training in cancer pain management. I figured out that if that was my condition my students were, most probably, even in a worst position. I proposed a course on Pharmaceutical on cancer pain management that included not only pharmacology, pathophysiology and pharmacotherapy of cancer pain management but also a chapter on opioids availability and regulations. By now I have trained around 180 pharmacy students. But it was not only the year 2006 that my academic life made a real change in favor of my country: I applied to a fellowship from the University of Wisconsin with the International Pain Policy and Study Group and with other seven health care professional from all over the world I was accepted. The fellow was sponsored not only by Open Society Institute but also by IAHCP. Many persons were involved in our training, I would not be fare if I did not mention each one of this wonderful persons: Mary Callaway, Karen Ryan, Martha Maurer, David Joranson, Willhem Scholtem, Liliana de Lima. I was so lucky to have Liliana de Lima, form IAHPC as my direct mentor. The whole training, the support of University of Wisconsin, OSI and IAHPC ended in a major change in opioid´s prescription and dispensation in my country. This change is positively influencing opioids availability in Panama. I am still working in a second part of my fellowship but at the same time I became a mentor for a physician in Peru as part of a program coordinated by IAHPC and also became in touch with the National Plan of Palliative Care in Panama trough IAHPC. With these opportunities I have been able to increase palliative care knowledge not only in my School but also at national and international level. I was also invited during the last month of March to the 53rd meeting of the CND in Vienna where U.S.A presented a proposal to discuss during the next ten years not only measures to control misuse but also to increase opioids availability for medical and research purposes. Many organizations supported this initiative, which was approved. IAHPC, OSI and Human Right can be mentioned as leaders of this main idea. Prof. Rosa Buitrago de Tello, School of Pharmacy, University of Panama.
IAHPC has done a lot and is still doing a great deal to advance palliative care globally, and especially in the developing countries. IAHPC has supported training, advocating for essential palliative care drugs, developing Palliative care guidelines and bringing palliative care providers from around the world together.
The International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care strives to promote hospice and palliative care services in developing countries. We do this through our newsletter, by providing grants for travel for health professionals in developing countries to attend international meetings, sending world experts to developing countries to teach for two weeks, awarding grants to universities, colleges, to support a faculty position to teach and develop a palliative care curriculum. We do all this, plus more, on a very small and limited budget and we have done so for many years. Bill Farr
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I have been involved as a board member and Vice-Chair of the International Association for Hospice and Palliative (IAHPC) Care, Inc. since its inception. Prior to this, I was the Vice-president of the International Hospice Institute and the successor organization the International Hospice Institute and College, which was the immediate predecessor of the IAHPC. The IAHPC has been actively involved in promoting hospice and palliative care education in developing countries. To this end, we send experts to these resource poor countries in order to develop a culturally sensitive educational program for the whole host of service providers in programs aimed at alleviating the pain and other symptoms in patients with far-advanced and terminal diseases. In addition, we provide funds to selected care providers in developing countries to attend educational programs in various parts of the world. We also support a faculty member for three years in a resource poor country who is dedicated to developing a new hospice/palliative care educational program in their hospital and university. We publish free booklets, and e-books for use by resource poor countries. We also send out a free e-newsletter each month to over 8,000 persons each month. We do all of this very efficiently and on a very small budget.
This organisation has a real vision to advocate for and facilitate effective hospice and palliative care worldwide. As an academic in this filed, I have seen the effect of this organisation in different countries and situations. Thus although I am too busy, I have this year volunteered to join the board, and was fortunate to be voted on.
IAHPC is a wonderful organisation which succeeds in fostering international development of Palliative Care on an extremely tight budget, thanks to the incredible amount of work performed by the people working for the organisation. I am proud and honoured to serve as a Board member for IAHPC.
I have been the recipient of travelling fellowships which have enabled me to plan and deliver much needed training programs to eager, highly motivated interdisciplinary palliative care teams. The IAHPC is one organization that I am fully behind because I have seen first hand the conditions that physicians, nurses, counsellors, spiritual care providers, and volunteers must work in. The IAHPC is completely dedicated to supporting professionals from around the world to connect and share information and resources. They tirelessly promote education in the field and support leaders, and people in positions of power to put pressure on governing bodies to change regulations to benefit the most vulnerable people. The IAHPC must be financially support in their work because they bring together people who have the knowledge, the skills, the power, and the motivation to make a difference.
My first contact with IAHPC was in 1993, when the Founder (Dr Josephine Magno from the Philippines) and her initial colleagues, visited me in Washington when I was trying to raise funds for the vision we had for palliative care in Africa. Since then I have watched this organisation grow, assisting people in poorer countries to bring relief to the suffering. I was most surprised to be chosen as the first person to receive their Vittorio Ventafrida Award in 2002, as a recognition for initiating palliative care in Africa and Asia. This brought to me a gift of 2,000$ for my use. At that time our team was struggling with personal debts and growing families. They needed a credit union. The money went into the credit union and started it off. This has been run completely by the employees of Hospice Africa Uganda and gives relief from financial burden to many. Those on our team work very hard and under difficult circumstances to bring relief of suffering and suffer personal losses as they lose patients and support families through to bereavement. IAHPC has supported students from poorer countries to attend our programmes for training like the Diploma in palliative medicine, conferred by Makerere University but owned by HAU. As a Board Member, I am in a position to be part of decision making and to be privy to their accounts. I am quite convinced that this organisation makes a great impression on the spread of palliative care to the poorer areas of the world, and works with enormous integrity.
Review from Guidestar