Message from the Chair
and Executive Director
Dear Readers:
This issue of the newsletter marks the 14th Anniversary of the IAHPC Newsletter!
We are very proud of our Newsletter, but most of all we are appreciative of the hard work and dedication of our editor, Dr. William Farr, who has edited and produced each edition during the past fourteen years! The Newsletter (NL) has proven to be a wonderful tool to disseminate a broad range of information and to increase awareness about hospice and palliative care around the world. It has also served as a tool for many of you to learn about new developments, events and to bring attention to your own programs and challenges while also highlighting the progress that thousands have been able to achieve. We ask you to join us in thanking Dr. Farr for his effort and dedication.
Thanks also to our webmaster, Anne Laidlaw and her team at Alou Web Design, for their excellent work in the layout, setting and distribution of the Newsletter. Each month Anne receives the NL from Bill, transforms it into an electronic file, creates text and web versions and sends the e-Newsletter to nearly 8,000 subscribers!
We also wish to thank the many contributors and board members who have supplied us with outstanding content for many years. We especially thank Dr. Roger Woodruff for his monthly book reviews and Dr. Carla Ripamonti for her article of the month.
Please remember that we accept articles for this publication that describe your progress and the programs that are being implemented in your countries, as well as current news from your region.
The 53rd session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) was held March 8-12 in Vienna. This year the Commission addressed:
- Improving opioid availability for medical and scientific purposes while continuing to discuss ways to raise awareness about the risks of abusing drugs;
- Improving the understanding of drug addiction as a chronic health disorder; and
- the importance of research and data collection.
The week-long session of the Commission included consideration of draft resolutions, including a very important one titled, "Promoting adequate availability of internationally controlled licit drugs for medical and scientific purposes while preventing their diversion and abuse." Our Newsletter includes a section on this important news, see below. We ask you to read and advocate for better access to opioids for medical use in your countries. On this topic, we received some great news from Dr. Beatriz Thompson in Belize who announced that oral opioids are now available in her country. Congratulations to her and the team of the Belize Palliative Care Foundation for this achievement and for their efforts to improve the quality of life of patients in Belize.
We just returned from the Fifth Congress of the Latin American Association for Palliative Care (ALCP). It was a great success and there is a growing number of participants attending the meeting and submitting abstracts for seminars, posters and oral presentations. This meeting marked the 20 th anniversary of these meetings in Latin America. The first one was started by our Chair, Roberto Wenk, in San Nicolas in 1990. At that time, there were only 13 participants from countries other than Argentina. In this recent Congress, there were more than 700 participants, representing 27 countries. It is a big step in the advancement of palliative care in the Region. IAHPC is very happy to support the travel of nine palliative care workers to attend the meeting. Several IAHPC Board members gave presentations: they were Dr. Wenk, Eduardo Bruera, Frank Ferris and our Executive Director, Liliana De Lima. Congratulations to the congress organizers for a successful meeting!
Many thanks to those who participated in our first round of the Delphi process to identify the Essential Practices in Palliative Care. We are preparing the second round and will be sending out an email in the next few days so that they can complete the second round.
We have received an unconditional gift from Grunenthal GmbH to support our activities and organization. We are very grateful for their commitment to support the development of palliative care across the globe and especially to Dr. Detlef Von Zabern for his interest and dedication to this field.
More good news! IAHPC has been given Guide Star’s highest ranking. This organization rates and evaluates not-for-profits for their ability to be mission driven and meet organizational and governance standards that make them worthy to receive donations.
Until next month,
Roberto Wenk, MD
Chair, Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director
Email this page to a friend!
Top of Page |
