Africa Hospice and Palliative Care News Roundup - 17-24 August

Here is this week’s ‘tea break reading’ – a round up of the week’s African palliative care news, 17-24 August:

News and views:

Editor’s pick:

Uganda: ‘British Mother Teresa’ In Desperate Cash Plea To Save African Hospice Charity – The huge network Dr Merriman has built up is now under threat as Hospice Africa Uganda needs to find an extra £200,000 for this financial year, and £400,000 every year for the next five years. From Yahoo!News.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Heading off the looming diabetes-tuberculosis epidemic – Already, countries with the highest TB rates are also suffering from severe diabetes burdens. Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, has the highest concentration of TB in the world. And over the next two decades, the region’s diabetes rates are expected to jump by over 100 percent. From Health Affairs blog.

Niger: Niger steps up fight against cancers stalking women – Niger has stepped up the fight against breast and cervical cancer, using screening and public awareness campaigns to reverse a scourge affecting more and more women in the prime of life. From News24.

Elsewhere in the news:

East Africa: Today’s young Africans might have a world without AIDS, but nothing is guaranteed. Just ask Uganda – Without a sense of what the world was like before AIDS, it’s difficult to fully grasp the scale of how much the pandemic shattered families and communities. From Mail & Guardian Africa.

Kenya – Kenya to get first cancer hospital in 2017 – Kenya will have its first comprehensive cancer diagnostic and treatment centre in 2017 after the country started the construction of a proposed State-of-the-Art Cancer hospital, the first of its kind in East and Central Africa, the government announced on Tuesday. From StarAfrica.com.
Egypt – All children battling cancer in Africa’s Nile basin ‘Welcome to receive free treatment’ in Egypt – In extended efforts to weave unity and peace across the Nile Basin countries through mutual benefits and shared knowledge, 600 African physicians have been promised to receive medical training at the Egyptian Children’s Cancer Hospital (CCHE)57357 throughout the upcoming three years. From Egyptian Streets (blog).

Southern Africa: SADC bemoans decline in AIDS fight – The Southern African Development Community (SADC) says it has during the period 2001-2011 recorded a decline in the fight against HIV and AIDS epidemics among its member states, according to a report by ZANIS. From AllAfrica.com.

South Africa – Cervical cancer neglected in Africa – Cervical cancer is a “neglected disease”, Cancer Association of SA (Cansa) chief executive Elize Joubert says…There were at least 700,000 cases of cervical cancer diagnosed in Africa a year and the case fatality rate was very high, reaching over 80 percent in most countries, she found. From Independent Online.

Malawi – DfID heals Malawi for medical research – DfID’s chief scientific advisor commended Malawi as being one of the strongest countries in Africa in generating medical research. From The Nation.

Namibia – Namibian cancer patient suffers in silence – As Namibia does not have a hospice or chronic care facilities or accommodation in the state system, Abraham Ekandjo and his family and others like him have fallen through the cracks and are receiving inadequate support for their serious medical and emotionally distressing situation. From News.xinhuanet.

Grants, scholarships and awards:

Jobs:

Uganda: Programme Manager – The African Palliative Care Association is hiring for a Programme Manager position. Application details are listed on the APCA website. From APCA.

Education opportunities:

Sub-Saharan Africa: Initiator’s course for Anglophone countries in sub-Saharan Africa – Hospice Africa Uganda has designed a special five-week training course in Kampala, starting it’s ninth round from 19 October to 20 November, for English-speaking palliative care service initiators across sub-Saharan Africa. From Hospice Africa Uganda.

Events: