IAHPC presented on safe, sustainable access to affordable essential medicines at an INCB workshop in East Africa. Front row (L-R): Dr. Kariuki Gachoki, director, Health Products and Technologies, Kenya’s Pharmacy and Poisons Board; David Musyoki, executive director, Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association; ⁠Dr. Zipporah Ali, board member, Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association and African Palliative Care Association; Dr. Curtis Marubu, Kenya Medical Supplies Agency; Angela Martins, director, Social Development, Culture and Sport, African Union Commission; Stefano Berterame, deputy secretary of the INCB; Hassan Moussa Hassan, pharmaceutical inspector, Ministry of Health, Djibouti; Boniface Wilunda, head, Health and Social Development, Regional Office for Eastern Africa, UNODC. Photo used with permission.

Advocacy More Essential than Ever for Escalating Needs Worldwide

By Katherine I. Pettus, PhD
IAHPC Senior Director of Advocacy and Partnerships

Strategic planning for advocacy 2025-2030

The IAHPC board and senior leadership are engaged in an all-hands-on-deck strategic planning process to incorporate lessons learned in the past five years into new outcomes and objectives that respond to the pressures and opportunities presented by these challenging times. Dr. Victoria Hewitt is the board member leading our advocacy committee, which is prioritizing support and mentorship for advocacy by national palliative care associations. This 2025 initiative will come with some new resources to be launched in coming months. Read more about why IAHPC is amplifying its support at the national level.

The IAHPC team on the ground at the WHO executive board meeting: WHO Focal Point Dr. Kiu Tay Siang, Dr. Hibah Osman, and Dr. Sherin Susan Paul. Photo used with permission.

WHO meeting: logging long hours & liaising

As a non-state actor in official relations with the World Health Organization, the IAHPC is invited to send a delegation to executive board (EB) meetings and to the World Health Assembly (WHA). If you are interested in serving as a self-funded IAHPC delegate to the World Health Assembly, please contact me.

We are deeply grateful to IAHPC Board Member Dr. Hibah Osman and our Geneva focal point Dr. Sherin Susan Paul: they attended the WHO EB156 sessions every day, putting in long hours, liaising with colleagues at the WHO, and networking with other civil society delegates. Dr. Victoria Hewitt and Tebello Lepheane, founder of Starlight Hospice in Lesotho, attended virtually.

Our delegation began EB preparations in early January, reviewing the draft agenda for items related to palliative care, then developing and refining IAHPC statements and advocacy notes. These were sent to our advocacy focal points in different countries to adapt and forward to their policymakers and permanent missions in Geneva.

The EB met for more than a week, often well into the evening—debating a range of topics, including the budget crisis resulting from the US withdrawal, health workforce issues, social isolation and loneliness, and emergency response. Visit our Advocacy Initiatives page for IAHPC statements and advocacy notes on these agenda items or to watch videos of our statements. Dr. Osman's participation and advocacy were particularly fruitful, as Lebanon’s delegation made several statements that emphasized the importance of palliative care.

You can read Dr. Osman's reflection on the experience, "The Value of Participation & the Power of Networking," where she explores and enumerates the benefits, such as: "Walking up to people, introducing yourself, sharing your goals, and expressing appreciation for the work they are doing are simple yet powerful actions that can build meaningful connections."

The impact of Dr. Osman's participation was evident in this subsequent statement by the Lebanese delegation:

“Palliative care is crucial in the future of health as it ensures quality of life and dignity for patients with serious illnesses. By focusing on pain management and emotional support, and empowering the related health workforce such as geriatric specialists and social workers it bridges the gap between medical treatment and compassionate care."

Many member states at the EB referenced the new WHO Academy in Lyon, France, inaugurated in December 2024 with a vision of “A world in which health and care workers, policy makers and WHO staff have the skills and competencies they need to achieve health for all.” You can now access its palliative care course for free!

International Narcotics Control Board workshop in East Africa

Switching continents, the IAHPC was invited to present at an INCB Learning program workshop in Nairobi Kenya for 17 East African countries. Dr. Zipporah Ali, a former IAHPC board member and executive director of the Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Alliance, represented IAHPC at the meeting and presented alongside representatives of the African Union and Kenyan civil servants in charge of supply chain and regulatory agencies. Safe and sustainable access to affordable palliative care opioids presents many a longstanding challenge for practitioners on the African continent. You can read my report on that meeting.

A Plethora of Global Advocacy Webinars!

IAHPC leadership development program

IAHPC’s first open-access webinar of 2025, “Changing the World One Country at a Time,” featured the project reports of four of our five Leadership Development Program (LEAD) grantees. Presenters from the first cohort of this unique global microgrant program were Dr. Irene Laska (Albania), Dr. Eric Some (Burkina Faso), Dr. María Córdoba (Colombia), and Dr. Mwate Joseph Chaila (Zambia). The fifth grantee, Dr. Piyush Gupta (India), prepared a video report on his project. PDFs of the presentations and Dr. Gupta’s video are posted to our Advocacy Initiatives page.

G2H2 on the right to health

IAHPC participated in a pre-WHO EB156 webinar hosted by the Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2) and organized by NGO Dianova International on “Ensuring the Right to Health in the Approach to Substance Use Challenges.” I presented on challenges to availability of essential palliative care medicines in more than 85% of the world along with international drug policy experts working on other key topics. You can watch the recording of the Dianova webinar and review a PDF of my slides on our Advocacy Initiatives page.

Primary PC & universal health coverage

IAHPC organized our own webinar on primary palliative care and universal health coverage (UHC) featuring Dr. Sherin Paul’s analysis of palliative care and UHC, Dr. Daniel Munday’s work in rural Nepal, Dr. Hammoda Abu Odah’s report on palliative care needs in Gaza, and Dr. Megan Doherty’s update on WHO’s technical work on palliative care and UHC. You can watch the session, or view each of the presentations mentioned above, on our Advocacy Initiatives page.

Explaining PC to Panthers

Last but not least, I was invited to present at the Grey Panthers NYC's Transformation Tuesday with Myriam Rabner in a webinar called “Combatting Ageism in Healthcare: Palliative Care Explained.” You can watch the session here.

Founded to promote active social engagement, and with several chapters in the United States, the Grey Panthers' mission is "a world where the old and the young have much to contribute to make our society more just and humane, and in which each reinforces the other in goals, strategy, and action."

Upcoming report: PC as a practice of hope

I will report on February’s webinar “Palliative care as a practice of hope,” which took place on the 33rd World Day of the Sick, in next month’s advocacy column for Pallinews.

Upcoming webinars: PC in humanitarian settings & Women's Day

Our webinar on March 8, International Women’s Day, will feature the personal and professional stories of some IAHPC board members who are working on our strategic planning process. Keep an eye on upcoming social media and special announcements for more information.

I am participating in a webinar on "Making the Case for Palliative Care in Humanitarian Settings" hosted by PallCHASE in two sessions, to accommodate different time zones. They take on Feb. 19 at 3 p.m. and again on Feb. 20 at 8 a.m. London time.

The other participants are Dr. Spyridon Giannakis, who practices family medicine in Malawi; Prof. Olena Riga, a professor of pediatrics and neonatology at Kharkiv National Medical University, Ukraine; and Dr. Arpana Nanda, a research associate at the Centre for Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.