2017; Volume 18, No 12, December

IAHPC Membership Matters

Our members are a crucial part of our ‘global hospice family.’ Please take full advantage of the benefits membership offers by visiting the membership section of our website. And to those who are not yet members, please consider joining us!

IAHPC Increasing Membership Award 2017

Our Recognition Awards were instituted to build awareness and understanding of the vital function that our members play in the advancement of our mission. Each year we present an Increasing Membership Award, for bringing the highest number of new or renewed members.

This year was extraordinary, as two people tied for the Increasing Membership Award. Grace Kivumbi of Uganda and Faraha Kiwanga of Tanzania each recruited nine new or renewed members in 2017, as of the application deadline.

This was a repeat win for both Dr. Kiwanga, who brought in the most members in 2016, and Ms. Kivumbi, who garnered the most members in 2013. They will split the monetary portion of the prize, a $2,000 US IAHPC Traveling Scholarship or Traveling Fellowship, but will each receive one free full year’s IAHPC membership.

Grace Kivumbi offers credit to lend a helping hand

Grace Kivumbi is Unit Manager of the Makerere Palliative Care Unit and Palliative Care Education and Research Consortium (MPCU/PcERC), and is also Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the Cairdeas International Palliative Care Trust (IPTC) Uganda, based at the hospital in Mulago, Kampala, Uganda.

‘Supporting friends and colleagues across Africa become members of IAHPC has become a role that I and my team members have come to appreciate and do diligently.

‘As an example, many of our colleagues and students do not have access to a credit card, which is necessary because membership requires online payment. To help, during MPCU/PcERC, and IPCT conferences and training programs we set up a stall to provide information, encourage IAHPC membership, and use our credit cards to put through payments on the behalf of those without a card.

‘I first got to know about IAHPC during my days at Hospice Africa Uganda, when I was running the palliative care distance learning programs for Africa. I have seen firsthand the benefits and opportunities that colleagues across Africa have had thanks to their membership in IAHPC: scholarships to training courses advance their palliative care knowledge and skills; attending palliative care events allows for mutual sharing and learning; and access to palliative care literature worldwide is a huge benefit, especially for students attending palliative care courses and those who do research.

‘In my current role, I can see how very helpful these resources and opportunities are for both those working in palliative care and those in the midst of training to become palliative care workers. The benefits of being a member of IAHPC are immense, and that is the gospel that I preach whenever I get the opportunity.

‘My team and I will continue with supporting this noble cause of supporting IAHPC, which, in turn, facilitates the spread of palliative care. Together, we can reduce global suffering.

A Tanzania contingent at the EAPC Congress in Spain last May: Dr. Faraja Kiwanga (top left), Mary Haule (top right), and Theodora Iwanga (bottom left) work together at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Tanzania. Dr. Alick Kayange is with UMC Tanzania and a Public Health Specialist at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Oslo (UiO) in Tanzania.

Last year’s winner presented a poster at EAPC conference in May

Faraja Kiwanga is a resident in clinical oncology at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute located in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania. She has worked for more than seven years in the field of medicine/oncology and palliative care, and has been a member of the IAHPC for five years.

‘Throughout my career, my focus has been to ensure that patients with cancer have access to both pharmacological and non-pharmacological care pain control.

‘My professional life has been greatly enriched by my continuing membership. My career in palliative care has not been the same since I become a member of the IAHPC. I have been able to read the monthly newsletters with the updated information on palliative care, which enriches my knowledge of many aspects of palliative care.

‘I have been able to attend several conferences across the world under support of IAHPC where I have been able to present my works and gained more skills and experiences from different palliative care experts. For instance, I presented a poster — ‘Holistic Management of a Child with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A case study’ — at the 15th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care Progressing Palliative Care in Madrid in May.

‘This year, I won the prize of $1,000 for recruiting the most IAHPC members. I am extremely excited to receive the award, which will help me to attend one of the international conferences in the year ahead.

‘Once again, I would like to thank IAHPC for coming up with these awards that not only support an individual, but support the whole community where the recipient lives, and the whole world at large.’

How to be eligible for next year’s Recognition Awards

Who will win IAHPC Recognition Awards next year? Lay the groundwork by telling friends and colleagues about membership benefits!

All you need to do to become eligible for the IAHPC Recognition Awards is be a member. There are substantial benefits to becoming a member and, to help make it affordable, your membership fee is based on the income level of the country where you live (as reported by the World Bank, with significant discounts for memberships over one year).

Member benefits include:

Unlimited online access / downloads of full text articles from leading palliative care journals including:

• Journal of Palliative Medicine
• Palliative Medicine
• Progress in Palliative Care
• Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy
• Access the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) database

Unlimited access / downloads of palliative care tools and resources, such as the Palliative Care Reference Cards from the Institute of Palliative Medicine.

Eligibility for a travel grant to learn and teach:

• Traveling fellowships
• Traveling scholarship

Support & participate in IAHPC’s global aims:

• Global opioid availability with the WHO, INCB, and other UN organizations
• Pain treatment as a human right with Human Rights Watch, UICC, and other organizations
• Essential Medicines & Essential Palliative Care Practices projects

Ability to nominate candidates to the IAHPC Board

Free downloads of IAHPC Press publications

Remember to renew your membership, if you haven’t already, to be eligible to participate!

Renew now

New and Renewing Members' List

Read the list of individuals who joined/renewed their membership with IAHPC during the past month.

Membership renewals

New members

See the full list of IAHPC members

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