LEAD Grantees Get Set to Improve Palliative Care in 7 Countries
The Next LEAD Cohort
LEAD cohort 2027-2029 will be invited to submit proposals aimed at strengthening spiritual care skills of interdisciplinary teams. LEAD grants prioritize projects with palliative care institutions in low- and middle-income countries.
You can read a brief description of all projects approved for the first cohort, as well as Burkina Faso's end-of-project report.
The seven recipients selected for the second cohort of the IAHPC Leadership Development Program (LEAD) are national institutions whose proposals include plans to advocate for the recently released Essential and Expanded Palliative Care Packages. Their selection was predicated on their participation in IAHPC's upcoming pilot course on advocacy for the Essential Packages, which we hope to release for all members next year.
In alphabetical order, the 2025 recipients represent the national palliative care associations of Chile, El Salvador, Ghana, Lebanon, Macedonia, Nepal, and the Philippines.
Sociedad Médica Cuidados Paliativos Chile
Project title: Closing the Gap in Cancer Pain Management in Chile
The problem: Inequitable access to opioids for patients with cancer hinders effective pain treatment.
The main objective: Improve equitable access to opioids for cancer pain management for those receiving palliative care.
The plan: Conduct a national regulatory and situational analysis informed by the Essential and Expanded Palliative Care Packages, evaluate palliative care providers' practices in opioid use, convene a consultation to identify stakeholders, develop an advocacy strategy, and evaluate at least one component of the strategy to assess its effectiveness.
The Chilean palliative care society's leadership team (L-R): Drs. Carolina Vadebenito Torres, Alfredo Pacheco Bruque, Angela Malebran Calderón, Laura Tupper Satt, and Diana Pareja. Photo used with permission.
The PALLIAMED El Salvador team. Photo used with permission.
PALIAMED El Salvador
Project title: Strengthening Palliative Care Education for Health Care Professionals in El Salvador
The problem: Most health care professionals graduating from medicine and nursing schools receive little or no education in palliative care, resulting in limited competencies in this field.
The main objective: Strengthen the evidence-based and competency-specific teaching in curricula of selected undergraduate medical and nursing schools, with a focus on the Essential and Expanded Palliative Care Packages.
The plan: Do a curricula assessment of undergraduate palliative care programs in medicine and nursing. Design a competency and evidence-based palliative care program, create a network of decision-makers, and propose integration of the program into medical and nursing school curricula.
The Ghana Palliative Care Association team. Photo used with permission.
Ghana Palliative Care Association
Project title: Developing/Adapting a Palliative Care Competency Framework for Medical Doctors in Ghana
The problem: Nearly all medical and surgical specialists routinely care for patients with serious illnesses that require palliative care, yet few undergraduate and postgraduate medical education curricula include palliative care or require trainees to acquire demonstrable palliative care competencies.
The main objective: Develop a comprehensive palliative care competency framework for medical doctors in Ghana for approval by the Ministry of Health and operationalization by relevant key agencies by July 2027.
The plan: Create an advisory board, conduct a review of palliative care competency frameworks, perform an analysis to map care and competencies in curricula, do an educational assessment, convene a workshop to codesign a competency framework aligned with the Essential and Expanded Palliative Care Packages and a workshop to share findings and present reports to stakeholders.
The Lebanese Palliative Care Society
Project title: Palliative Care Integration in Primary Healthcare Services in Lebanon
The problem: System-wide integration and funding is lacking. Palliative care is not covered by third-party payers, and there is no dedicated national budget for its services. Current provision is largely limited to Beirut and tertiary care centers, with scattered, uncoordinated efforts driven mostly by individual initiatives or NGOs offering home-based care.
The main objective: Advocate for a regulatory framework by including palliative care specialty into the plan of at least one main insurance company in the country by 2027, to improve accessibility and sustainability.
The plan: Work to help establish third-party payer reimbursement with an insurance company to cover components of the Essential and Expanded Palliative Care Packages, strengthen the government task force on palliative care reimbursement and work to ensure sustainable financing, design and implement an advocacy strategy for the inclusion of palliative care within national health policy and universal health coverage.
The Lebanese Palliative Care Society team. Photo used with permission.
The North Macedonia team: Lidija Veterovska Miljkovic, Natasha Zdraveska, and Lazo Jordanovski. Photo used with permission.
Macedonian Association for Palliative Care
Project title: Strengthening Primary Palliative Care in North Macedonia
The problem: The list of primary health care services does not include palliative care.
The main objective: Improve primary palliative care in the Republic of North Macedonia by integrating the Essential Palliative Care Packages for Adults into national service improvement initiatives aimed at primary care doctors.
The plan: Continue ongoing efforts to establish closer cooperation with the Center for Family Medicine and Association of Family Physicians, conduct and collate the results of a survey of physicians on barriers to providing palliative care and submit to the Ministry of Health to encourage primary care reform. Hold educational meetings with physicians on how to expand palliative care in daily practice.
Nepalese Association of Palliative Care
Project title: Introducing Essential Palliative Care Package at Different Levels of Training in KIST Medical Institute
Dr. Bishnu Dutta Poudel, president of the Nepalese Association of Palliative Care. Photo used with permission.
The problem: Universal access to basic palliative care is limited by insufficient provider training and the limited access of essential palliative care medicines and equipment.
The main objective: Introduce the Essential Palliative Care Package into the curriculum for doctors, nurses, and pharmacists at KIST Medical College, in order to improve knowledge that, in turn, will result in better care provision.
The plan: Develop teaching curricula for the essential package to educate clinical professionals about its components. Advocate to have the medicines included in the national list of essential medicines, and advocate with government agencies to integrate the Essential and Expanded Palliative Care Packages in curricula of all medical, nursing, and pharmacy schools.
Philippine Society of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
Project title: Community First: A Pilot Model for Integrating Palliative Care into PhilHealth and Local Health Systems
The problem: Substantial barriers hinder equitable and widespread access to palliative care in the Philippines, including limited trained specialists, scarce educational opportunities, policy gaps, fragmented and unsustainable programs, and lack of public awareness.
The main objective: Improve equitable access to palliative care services at the community level, by designing and implementing a scalable model in Taguig City.
The plan: Draft and adopt an advocacy strategy within our society, then convene a working group with multiple stakeholders (including Health Department representatives and civil society members) to align priorities. Disseminate the resulting document widely, then craft a guidance for PhilHealth and the Department of Health as well as a policy statement by stakeholders that calls for prioritization of Essential and Expanded Palliative Care Packages.
The Philippine Society of Hospice and Palliative Medicine team. Photo used with permission.
Read more of this week's issue of Pallinews
Leadership Development Grants to Spur Uptake of PC Packages
Read about projects by 7 LEAD grantees, all national institutions, to advocate for Essential and Expanded Palliative Care Packages in Chile, El Salvador, Ghana, Lebanon, Macedonia, Nepal, and the Philippines.
A Coalition of the Living
A new Canadian Centre of Equity & Innovation freely offers experienced aid for existing or developing palliative care programs tending to the marginalized, such as First Nations peoples and those who are homeless, addicted, in prison, or have untreated mental illness.
Plus
Palliative Care for Persons with Dementia: WHO Tools is a joint IAHPC/WHO open access webinar on October 30, to mark the 2025 International Day of Care and Support. Register.
Last week to submit your photos to the IAHPC Photo Contest: October 31, 2025 is the deadline. Winners receive cash prizes and membership extensions. Read the rules & how to send us your photos. Every member who submits a photo that follows the rules will receive a 3-month extension to their membership. (Become a member!)
Participants are being sought for a research study, "Palliative Care Education in low-middle income country Humanitarian contexts: an exploration of Humanitarian Health Worker’s learning needs" by the University of Edinburgh. The survey is estimated to take 15-20 minutes.
IAHPC Resources
Free for everyone
Pallipedia details conditions, symptoms, treatments, medicines & their suggested dosages, etc., from a palliative care perspective, including a reference for each. It's a terrific online resource, searchable by term or a category (such as palliative care basics, ethical/legal issues, psychological/social/spiritual issues, symptom management, assessments, & more). The most searched term in recent years? Overflow diarrhea (spurious diarrhea)
Free for members
Two modules of the IAHPC Comprehensive Pain and Symptom Management Course cover a wide range of gastrointestinal symptoms: anorexia/cachexia, constipation, diarrhea, nausea & vomiting, malignant bowel obstruction, and oral symptoms.
Upcoming Events in the Calendar
Explore the IAHPC calendar of events to find educational events, conferences, and congresses to expand and improve your palliative care skills and knowledge.