Volume 24, Number 9: September 2023

IAHPC Involved in Creating Resources to Relieve Health-Related Suffering

The IAHPC is part of a major project, anchored at the University of Edinburgh, to continue the work begun by the Lancet Commission on palliative care and pain relief. 

In 2018 the Commission formulated an Essential Package for primary care in the most resource-constrained settings. This new initiative fulfills a recommendation by the Commission to develop an Expanded Package for adults, as well as an Essential Package and an Expanded Package for children. The expanded packages are intended to address complex needs—involving treatment by specialist and tertiary care services—in less resource-constrained countries.

The 18-month project, funded by the Medical Research Council, includes partners in El Salvador, Mexico, and Colombia. Read more about the project and IAHPC's involvement in Lukas and Liliana’s column, Dear Readers.

The Medical Research Council is a UK-based organization that funds research to "prevent illness, develop therapies and improve human health."

Global Giving Donates $10,000 to IAHPC Fundraiser for Sudan

Global Giving has donated $10,000 USD toward IAHPC's fundraising effort to support palliative care providers in Sudan during wartime. This is in addition to $5,171 raised through IAHPC's own Global Giving campaign, “Supporting Palliative Care in Sudan during wartime.”

The donation was made possible by Global Giving's fundraiser to help Sudan's refugees, returnees and host countries after the country was plunged into civil war on April 15, when fighting between the country's paramilitary and military forces broke out in Khartoum. It recently approached the IAHPC as an organization known to put donations to good use.

"We are deeply grateful to Global Giving and the many donors for their donations, which will be extremely helpful to the members of the palliative care team in Khartoum," says IAHPC Executive Director Liliana De Lima.

Interfaith Webinar on Sept. 21 Open to All

IAHPC is hosting a panel discussion on Zoom with the topic "Peace in Serious Illness and at the End of Life. Is it possible?" on September 21, the United Nations' International Day of Peace. The webinar, moderated by Dr. Dingle Spence, includes representatives from the world's largest faith affiliations: Christianity (a Catholic priest), Islam (an imam), and unaffiliated (a pastoral counselor). See Policy & Advocacy for more details.

Register here for the event, taking place at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. For those unable to attend, the discussion will be recorded.

September Webinars on WHO's Morphine Report

The World Health Organization has organized three webinars following publication of Left Behind in Pain, a report on countries' vastly different means of access to morphine for pain relief. The first two are on September 12, and the third is on September 14.

The purpose of the webinars is "to share country experiences and to discuss the policy landscape for bringing about safe access to morphine for medical use globally." The topics are:

• "What can be done to improve safe access to medical morphine"
• "Safe access to morphine for people in need"
• "What can be done to improve safe access to medical morphine"

IAHPC has collaborated with the WHO to secure expert panelists, including IAHPC Chair Lukas Radbruch and Board Member Felicia Knaul. Find detailed event information and registration links here.

Also in this issue: A personal glimpse into "Left Behind in Pain:" Q & A with Kiusiang Tay-Teo, WHO's Technical Officer in the Department of Essential Medicines and Health Products.

In-Depth Courses Delayed

Due to scheduling difficulties, IAHPC's in-depth courses will not begin in September, as announced previously. Stay tuned! If you wish to receive alerts as the courses are finalized, subscribe to IAHPC's announcements.

IAHPC Scholars Selected to Attend the APHN Conference

The following IAHPC members have been select to receive an IAHPC Scholarship to attend the Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Conference, taking place in Incheon, Republic of Korea, on October 4-7, 2023.

• B. Sanil S. De Silva is a senior lecturer in nursing at The Open University of Sri Lanka, Columbo, Sri Lanka.
• Christantie Effendy is a clinical consultant in oncology and palliative care, as well as a senior lecturer and researcher, at the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada Hospital, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 
• Edmar Elcarte is a registered nurse with additional training in nephrology, ostomy and sound care and is a diabetes educator and a faculty member at De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute, Batangas, Philippines.
• Nicholas Lee Wei Law, is a medical officer in the Department of Medical and Radiation Oncology at Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching, Malaysia. .
• Bhanu Pratap Maury, senior resident at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.  

What’s New in the Calendar

New listings

Access all items in the IAHPC Calendar of Events.

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