End of year message from the APCA Executive Director, Dr. Eve Namisango

Dear APCA partners and friends,

As we near the end of the year, we take a moment to reflect on what a year 2025 has been!
Many of you participated in one way or another in the several events commemorating APCA’s 20th anniversary. We are deeply grateful for the support and strategic partnerships that APCA has enjoyed over the years from global to grassroots organisations, all of which have seen palliative care developing gradually in many African counties.

The 8th International African Palliative Care Conference, co-hosted with Ministry of Health Botswana was, no doubt, the biggest event on our calendar in 2025. Many of you inspired, challenged and encouraged us and with diverse presentations that were thoroughly researched or based on authentic work being implemented in your disciplines and countries. Our donors, development partners, government officials, the academia, health professionals, leaders of hospices and national associations, patients and informal caregivers had much to offer and much to take away.

We were proud to launch the African Centre of Excellence for Palliative Care Research and Knowledge Translation in Gaborone. We eagerly anticipate participation and engagement from researchers, academia and policy makers so as to strengthen the evidence base for palliative care in Africa. Our small grants programme with the True Colours Trust continue to be a vital lifeline to palliative development in Africa to palliative care organisations that are at different developmental stages.

A close associate of the late Professor Anne Merriman’s, Jean Callanan, stepped in to support us in honouring the legacy of our long-time friend, Professor Anne Merriman, through the launch of the Dr. Anne Merriman Excellence in Palliative Care Award. This award is funded by Irish Aid. We are excited that the first Award will be presented in 2026 and invite all our members to participate once the call for nominations goes out in January 2026.

We said goodbye to 3 board members who had served APCA for 2 terms and welcomed 3 new colleagues to the board of directors during the triennial General Assembly held at the sidelines of the Conference in September. We are grateful to the outgoing members for their dedication and service and look forward to a productive term with the new members, who join the board component of 10. The biggest news this year was the retirement of Dr. Emmanuel Luyirika after 13 years at the helm of APCA, and my appointment to the position as Executive Director as of Nov 1, 2025. Many of you witnessed the handover during the conference. APCA remains resilient despite the challenging environment that we are operating in. I have braced myself for the long haul to make palliative care accessible to everyone who needs it in Africa.

In the coming year, we are looking forward to strengthening our support to national hospice palliative care associations, ministries of health and academic institutions and health care workers across Africa to ensure palliative care is fully integrated in health systems. We will continue with our advocacy campaigns as APCA and in partnership with others to increase awareness and commitment to palliative care, especially among policy makers.

My appreciation also goes to the passionate and knowledgeable APCA board and staff for their consistent efforts.

We wish you all a blessed Christmas season, and a blessed 2026.

Dr Eve Namisango, Executive Director, African Palliative Care Association