2017; Volume 18, No 4, April
IAHPC Program Support Grant
How we are developing the reach of the Colombian Association for Palliative Care
Martha Lucia Franco Garrido, Executive Director, the Colombian Association for Palliative Care, describes how an IAHPC grant will help them to expand the reach and impact of their work in Colombia.
In August 2014, the President of the Republic of Colombia signed the Palliative Care Law. This was an historic moment in Colombia as this law enforced the right of people with terminal, chronic, degenerative and irreversible diseases to receive palliative care. Yet, in spite of this advance, there was a clear lack of public and professional awareness of palliative care, and of the scope of the new law, there was a lack of health professionals trained in palliative care, and there was no regulation that guaranteed access to opioids for pain control. Thus, in order to implement much-needed changes and make palliative care a reality in Colombia, it was decided to establish the Colombian Association for Palliative Care (ASOCUPAC). We currently have a large number of multidisciplinary partners and, together with other national organizations, we are working to achieve this dream.
Since its creation in 2014, the Colombian Association for Palliative Care has strengthened the growth of palliative care in Colombia through:
- Participation in a working group with the Ministry of Health on ‘Expert consensus for the adoption of the Clinical Practice Guideline for Palliative Care’.
- Representation in the National Fund Advisory Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
- Attainment of new members and renewal of past memberships.
- Three programs in mass media to raise community awareness of palliative care as a component of the right to health.
- Participation in national and international events to raise awareness of ASOCUPAC’s activity.
Raising awareness of the Colombian Association for Palliative Care internationally. Our associates, Dr. Maria Mercedes Fajardo and Dr. Natalia Perdomo, took part in the ICPCN Pediatric Palliative Care Congress in Argentina in 2016.
In September 2015, we successfully applied for an IAHPC Program Support Grant. The purpose of the grant was to provide support to ASOCUPAC by covering the salary of the executive director for one year (2016). This would enable her to focus on strategies to ensure the financial income to sustain the activities of the organization in the future: expand the membership base and increase membership revenue, establish collaborative agreements with universities that are implementing palliative care programs (a percentage of the registration fees is allocated to ASOCUPAC), identify and nurture relationships with potential donors, and promote courses and activities.
We also set ourselves the following objectives:
- To raise community awareness of palliative care as a component of the right to health.
- To support the Board of Directors of ASOCUPAC in developing contact and opportunities with the national government, to contribute to and provide guidance on the public health policies in palliative care.
- To advocate for the inclusion of palliative care in national and institutional policies, using the World Health Assembly Resolution on Palliative Care and the national law.
- To establish agreements of cooperation with the National Cancer Institute to help develop the national palliative care plan.
- To coordinate agreements with universities to promote the development of palliative care in the country.
- To continue to seek partners in order to strengthen and improve the coverage of palliative care in Colombia.
The executive director is wholly responsible for the management and coordination of the board and the success of the growth of the organization.
Advocating for the inclusion of palliative care in national and institutional policies: Oncologist, Dr. John Jairo Franco, Psychologist Dr. Marcela Rosero and Magistrate Jaime Arruba Paucar, rapporteur of the Law of Palliative Care in Colombia, taking part in a meeting at the University Santiago de Cali.
We planned a variety of events designed to ensure financial sustainability during 2016. These included conferences with international experts, a benefit concert to commemorate World Hospice and Palliative Care Day and informal educational programs to promote, implement and disseminate palliative care among healthcare providers in Colombia. We also signed agreements with universities to run courses for graduates (120 hours) and Masters students and raised income through membership and a palliative care congress.
The reach of the project will be measured in a variety of ways, for example: an increased number of palliative care providers and services throughout the country; the increased number of members of our association; the number of people that have been trained through continuing education across the country; the amount of revenue generated by events and the growth in followers on our website and social media networks. Together, these will help us to widen the coverage and impact of the Colombian Association for Palliative Care.
We are delighted to report that with the support of the IAHPC Program Support Grant, we are making good progress in realizing the goal that we set ourselves back in September 2015: to increase awareness and education about palliative care in Colombia so that patients in need will have access to services where they live, regardless of age, diagnosis or gender.
Links
To find out more about IAHPC’s Program Support Grants, and our Traveling Scholarships and Traveling Fellowships, please visit our website. Through these programs we support projects and individuals around the world, especially in developing countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America.
You can contribute to this program and help palliative care workers attend and participate in congresses and courses by donating to the Traveling Scholarships Campaign in the Global Giving website.