In Cameroon, pain management is not yet a public health priority for the government because it is not yet integrated into its strategic plan. The general population and even some technical services of the state are unaware of the benefits of palliative care.
Two members of The Integrated Development Foundation (IDF) received training in palliative care during the first Francophone Palliative Care Initiator’s Course run by Hospice Africa in 2012. They organized training in Bamenda, Cameroon for their staff and other actors thanks to co-financing from Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) and African Palliative Care association (APCA).
This was the second workshop funded by APCA, with equipment provided by Palliative Care Without Borders (SPSF) to educate the medical staff of Bana subdivision (Cameroon), traditional healers and community volunteers on the importance of palliative care and develop a joint strategy to promote such care to give hope to the terminally ill.
Unfolding
The workshop took place in Bana in November, 2013 under the theme: ‘Capacity building of stakeholders on the basic principles of palliative care’.
The objectives of the workshop were:
- To train stakeholders on the basic principles of palliative care.
- To organize teamwork and synergy between actors.
- To develop individual action plans.
The team of moderators was made up of four medical doctors, a state-registered nurse and a social engineer (two women and four men), who had the responsibility of training participants from some hospitals, health centers and civil society organizations (IDF, Association of Traditional Doctors) on the importance of palliative care and how to ensure effective palliative care services in the different communities. Among the moderators was the president of the Association of Palliative Care in Cameroon, Dr. Wefuan Jonah, and Dr. Fondoh, pharmacist from the North West Regional Fund for Health, who did a demonstrative preparation of liquid morphine.
The four-day workshop had a very rich and educative program with excellent feedback from the participants. These are a few selected quotes from the feedback provided by participants about what they had learnt:
“Palliative care does not concern only patients at the end of life, but begins at the diagnosis stage till after death.”
“Palliative care concerns the whole team, in which the patient is the focus.”
“The goal of palliative care is to add life to the remaining days and not days to the remaining life.”
“It is important to have time to talk to patients and know how to talk to them…Know how to listen to the patient.”
“The man and the woman work together. Each one has their role to play. Woman is not the same as man, but they are equal in their own place and one cannot replace the other. This principle should be respected for a sustainable and harmonious development.”
At the end of the workshop, the participants were very happy and grateful that the ball was in their court. After drawing their individual action plans, they declared that they were ready to implement what they had learnt in their communities. In fact, the idea of adding life to the remaining days of the terminally ill and help them die with dignity motivated these participants who were ready to go to the field for practice. They thanked IDF and APCA wholeheartedly for thinking of them in this noble endeavor.
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