Maya Jane Bates is a family medicine specialist trained in the United Kingdom with more than 25 years of palliative care clinical practice, teaching, and research expertise developed in Southern Africa. She is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Blantyre, Malawi) and the University of Cape Town (South Africa), as well as an Honorary Lecturer at King’s College London (England). She also works to support local and global palliative care research initiatives at the International Observatory for End of Life Care at Lancaster University and the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh.
Dr. Bates pioneered primary palliative care models of service delivery in Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi, using a model that would later be scaled up nationally within other public health facilities. She has published widely from her background in clinical practice: in 2013 she authored a handbook, Inspiring Hope, as a palliative care guide for churches caring for patients and families with palliative care needs.
Dr. Bates is the founding Chair of the Palliative Care Support Trust in Malawi, and continued as Chair from 2002-2022: she now serves as Secretary. She has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the African Palliative Care Congress and is part of the World Health Organization’s Economics of Palliative Care Technical Working Group, as well as a primary care expert within the WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Integrated Care (IG2).
In 2022, Dr. Bates was awarded the European Association for Palliative Care’s Early Career Researcher Award for those who have made an outstanding contribution to palliative care research and clinical practice. That same year, she addressed palliative care and poverty reduction in a YouTube video that describes her research study, which showed “catastrophic” out-of-pocket costs for 64% of households with a person diagnosed with advanced cancer.
Dr. Bates has been an IAHPC member since 2008, and joined the IAHPC Board in January 2023.
When not working, she enjoys reading, hiking, and spending time with family and friends.
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How your gift supports the IAHPC mission
Achieved: $24,941
Goal: $30,000
83%
Education
Your gift funds the operational costs of our online courses taught by globally recognized experts who volunteer their time and provide educational resources relevant to palliative care topics. It also supports scholarships that enable palliative care workers to attend educational events and congresses, and allows us to maintain Pallipedia, the free, live, online dictionary.
The goal of this pillar is to implement strategies, resources and tools that will improve the competencies of the global workforce for appropriate palliative care delivery. We have two programs under this pillar plus many other resources for our members.
Your gift enables us to build and strengthen the partnerships that accelerate global, regional, and national advocacy for palliative care. We advocate for its integration into primary health care under universal health coverage and effective access to essential palliative care medicines and packages for people of all ages. Your gift supports our work to prepare delegates and participate in technical consultation meetings of the relevant UN organizations.
The goal this pillar is the integration of palliative care into primary health care within the spectrum of universal coverage to improve access to adequate care for patients in need. We offer the following to our members:
Documents on Human Rights and Access to Medicines and Care
Research
Your gift enables us to continue doing research that provides guidance and recommendations for action, based on responses from the global palliative care community. Such research includes our recent evaluation of the impact of euthanasia and assisted dying practices on palliative care workers and the use of essential medicines for palliative care. It also supports the costs of publications focused on research relevant to palliative care.
The goal of this pillar is to design and implement projects that lead to the integration of palliative care into health policies, resolutions, and key documents. Our studies help us provide guidance and recommendations, and take action based on the responses from the global palliative care community.
Your membership enables you to participate in IAHPC projects such as the:
Your gift enables us to continue our in-depth reporting and book reviews in Pallinews, as well as media campaigns that raise awareness about the need to increase access to care and support for patients and families.
We are a small organization that allocates over 80% of our budget to mission driven programs and to the maintenance of our free website. We need operational funding to continue the work.
Give a gift, get a gift
IAHPC members: When you gift a 2-year membership to a colleague in a low- or middle-income country, we extend your membership by 6 months.
