2021; Volume 22, No 6, June
A Deeper Dive: Spotlight on Africa
By Genevieve Napier
IAHPC Programs Officer
Starting last month, we began reporting the country-by-country breakdown of our members in each major region. In May, we listed all the countries in Asia. This month we continue to take a deeper dive—into Africa.
The IAHPC membership includes 23 countries in Africa, representing 15% of the total number of members. While the number of members change each month, the regions where our members reside doesn’t vary a great deal. The chart below shows our up-to-the-minute data at of the end of May.
Look for the country breakdown for North and South America in July, and Europe in August.
Our membership breakdown as of June 1: 26% of members reside in Asia, 25% in North America, 15% in Africa, 12% in both Europe and South America, 6% in Oceania, and 4% in Central America and the Caribbean.
Members’ Impact
If you have a recently published article or anything else of note related to your career in palliative care, share it with your IAHPC colleagues through Members’ Impact! Send your submissions to Genevieve Napier.
Lead author Jenifer Jeba Sundararaj joined with members Daniel Munday, Ruth Powys, Liz Grant, and Scott A. Murray and others to coauthor an article published in April in BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care titled, “COVID-19 and Palliative Medicine: Faith-based hospitals in India.” The results showed that India’s faith-based organizations adapted by extending their services beyond palliative care provision, including basic needs, such as food. These organizations, the authors conclude, “are key servers and should be empowered to be used well during crisis situations.”
Members William E. Rosa and Betty R. Ferrell teamed up to author an opinion piece, “Integration of Palliative Care Into All Serious Illness Care as A Human Right,” published in JAMA Forum in April. They affirm that ethical dimensions of rationed care is a focus during the pandemic, but that the focus is on who gets a ventilator, not providing palliative care to the seriously ill. The article elaborates on palliative care needs, ethics, and the different groups of people involved, with many links to relevant articles.
Dr. Yoshiyuki Kizawa
Members Dr. Yoshiyuki Kizawa, Dr. Eve Namisango, Professor Irene J. Higginson, and Dr. Richard Harding were part of a team of 10 authors, led by Cheng-Pei Lin, who collaborated to publish “Preparedness to Face the COVID-19 Pandemic in Hospice and Palliative Care Services in the Asia-Pacific Region: A rapid online survey” in April in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. The aim of their study was to evaluate the preparedness and capacity of hospice and palliative care services in the Asia-Pacific region to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and their recommendations to strengthen the preparedness of palliative care services. They conclude with four recommendations: 1) improve access to face masks; 2) acquire stress management protocols for staff; 3) reinforce contact tracing for relatives and visits in the community, and 4) develop guidance on patient and family care during the patient’s dying trajectory.
Take five minutes from your day to enjoy a choral passion project involving IAHPC member Maria Alice Papanicolau, from Brazil. Maria is part of International Voices Houston, which spearheaded a song that brought together 76 choir members and a 54-member orchestra to perform the song “Thankful.” Most of these amateur performers are medical personnel.
The video conveys the choir’s “immense gratitude to all the frontline workers, volunteers, caregivers, patients and family members who form this humanitarian network of care,” says Maria. “The experience was touching, and healing.”
“It has been a wonderful way for the choir to stay connected during this difficult past year,” says artistic director Mark Vogel. “Several of our singers are, themselves, frontline or essential workers. So we wanted to honor them with this song.”
Each singer, plus the Texas Medical Center Orchestra’s musicians, separately recorded their part, blended into a beautifully melodic and touching seamless whole by Vogel. The choir leaves listeners with the message: There’s so much to be thankful for! Listen to it on YouTube.
All performers—choir, orchestra, and conductors—of the uplifting song, “Thankful.”
Members in This Month’s Newsletter
The IAHPC leadership would like to thank the many members who participated in stories and columns in this month’s newsletter.
Policy & Advocacy
- María Adelaida Córdoba (Colombia) has been a member since 2016.
- Rumana Dowla (Bangladesh), member since 2009, supported the Global Consensus-Based Palliative Care Definition and serves as an Advocacy Focal Point
- Monica Do Coutto Monni (Canada), lifetime member, is the institutional representative for the Near North Palliative Care Network.
- Simone Cernesi (Italy), member since 2017, supported the Global Consensus-Based Palliative Care Definition and Global Palliative Care Database.
- Odette Spruijt (Australia), member since 2009, supported the Global Consensus-Based Palliative Care Definition.
- Abidan Chansa (Zambia), member since 2019, serves as an Advocacy Focal Point.
- Mwate Chaila (Zambia), member since 2014, supported the Global Consensus-Based Palliative Care Definition, participated in the Opioid Price Watch, and serves as an Advocacy Focal Point.
Featured Story
- Chitra Venkateswaran (India), member since 2012, supported the Global Consensus-Based Palliative Care Definition and Global Palliative Care Database pilot, participated in the COVID-19 Briefing Notes and survey.
Members’ Impact
- Daniel Munday (Nepal), member since 2013, participated in the COVID-19 Briefing Notes.
- Ruth Powys (Nepal), member since 2013, participated in Opioid Price Watch and the COVID-19 survey.
- Liz Grant (United Kingdom), participated in the COVID-19 Briefing Notes.
- Scott A. Murray (United Kingdom), is a lifetime member.
- William E. Rosa (United States), member since 2020, participated in the COVID-19 Briefing Notes.
- Betty R. Ferrell (United States), has been a member since 2020.
- Yoshiyuki Kizawa (Japan), lifetime member, supported the Global Consensus-Based Palliative Care Definition.
- Eve Namisango (Uganda), member since 2013, participated in the COVID-19 Briefing Notes.
- Irene J. Higginson (United Kingdom), and has been a member since 2020.
- Richard Harding (United Kingdom), member since 2008, participated in the COVID-19 Briefing Notes.
- Maria Alice Papanicolau (Brazil) has been a member since 2018.
Links to IAHPC programs and resources mentioned above: Global Consensus-Based Palliative Care Definition, COVID-19 Briefing Notes, Global Palliative Care Database, and Opioid Price Watch
List of Members
A list of individuals who joined, or renewed their membership with, IAHPC during the past month.
Membership renewals
| Name | Country |
|---|---|
| Lorena Patricia Etcheverry | Argentina |
| Anil Tandon | Australia |
| Bronwyn Lee | Australia |
| Eastern Palliative Care Association, Inc. | Australia |
| Kathleen Introna | Australia |
| Nezamuddin Ahmad | Bangladesh |
| Sayeda Quadir | Bangladesh |
| Zareen Delawar Karim | Bangladesh |
| Maria Alice Viegas Papanicolau | Brazil |
| Gary Rodin | Canada |
| Lisa Schwartz | Canada |
| Maria Adelaida Cordoba-Nunez | Colombia |
| Asociacion Latinoamerica de Cuidados Paliativos (ALCP) | Colombia |
| Galilee Palliative Care Unit | Greece |
| Ornela Sainterant | Haiti |
| Stanley C Macaden | India |
| Hana Rizmadewi Agustina | Indonesia |
| Stella Kathambi Kubania | Kenya |
| Shiao Yen (Caryn) Khoo | Malaysia |
| Natalia Carafizi | Moldova |
| Ornulf Paulsen | Norway |
| Jeromel Lapitan | Philippines |
| Marcos Lama | Spain |
| Golukandalaye Udayangan Ramadasa | Sri Lanka |
| Mesut Buz | Turkey |
| Kawempe Home Care | Uganda |
| Barbara Lacey | United States |
| Cindy Stafford | United States |
| Duong Le Dai | Vietnam |
| Andrew Amata | Zambia |
New members
| Name | Country |
|---|---|
| Jennifer Ong | Australia |
| Rafaela De Fatima Fernandes | Brazil |
| Carrasco Vasquez Ximena Constanza | Chile |
| Greither Quincoces Pulido | Cuba |
| Cristina Alexandra Orquera Gallegos | Ecuador |
| Jeet Jhaveri | India |
| Latha Sneha | India |
| National Association for Palliative Care for AYUSH & Integrative Medicine | India |
| Erendira Gonzalez Orozco | Mexico |
| Jose Miguel Guerra de la Garza | Mexico |
| Josue Montes Perez | Mexico |
| Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) | South Africa |
| Maria Del Rocio Diaz Moran | Spain |
| AmeriHealth Hospice | United States |
| Lisa Gustafson | United States |
| Mary White | United States |
See the full list of IAHPC members
