Tea break reading: African palliative care in the news

5^th July – 11^th July 2014

News and views:

Editor’s pick:

Rwanda: Setting up the first state Speech and Language Therapy service in Rwanda – VSO volunteer Claire works with staff at Rwanda Military Hospital to set up the first state Speech and Language Therapy service. Youtube.
Uganda: Understanding HIV prevalence rate and why it remains high – Many people know that the HIV/Aids prevalence rate in Uganda is 7.3 per cent, up from 6.3 in 2003. What they might not know is, what factors contribute to this, who is affected and why. A special report from The Daily Monitor.
South Africa: Meet the 23-year-old TB survivor taking on South Africa’s patent laws – After fighting tuberculosis for three years, Phumeza Tisile is asking governments to recognise it as a public health emergency. The Guardian.

Elsewhere in the news:

Africa: Drinking itself to death – The 2014 WHO ‘Global status report on alcohol and health’ shows shocking levels of alcohol consumption across Africa that is resulting in death and disease across the continent. ehospice Africa.
East Africa: APCA leads on five-year multi-country palliative care project – The end of project evaluation report has been finalised for a multi-country palliative care collaboration between the African Palliative Care Association (APCA) and Help the Hospices in the UK. ehospice Africa.
Swaziland: Sikhonela wena: We’re here for you – The major goal of palliative care is to help patients achieve the best possible quality of life through relief of suffering, control of symptoms and restoration of functional capacity, while remaining sensitive to personal, cultural and religious values, believes and practices…. Swazi Observer.
Cameroon: Palliative care growing in Cameroon – Catherine D’Souza, Dr Romance Djoumessi and Constantine Lonlack write for ehospice about the impact that palliative care training and a new hospital unit is having in Cameroon. ehospice Africa.
Kenya: Why HIV does not kill anymore – When it comes to HIV, it is not the virus that kills you, it is everything else. Your body’s immunity is weakened and a simple curable disease is what often gets you. The Star.
Kenya: Pharmacists learn how to reconstitute morphine – Aquinas Nyakundi, the editor of Kenyan edition of ehospice reports on why training pharmacist to reconstitute morphine is an important step closer to ensuring pain management drugs are accessible in hospitals in Kenya. ehospice.
Uganda: KMCC launches new HIV/AIDS infographics – Helen Buxton from the Uganda HIV/AIDS Knowledge Management and Communications Capacity Building Initiative (KMCC) writes for ehospice about why using infographics is an important part of awareness raising around HIV/AIDS. ehospice Africa.
South Sudan: Little to celebrate as war and hunger mar independence day – Unicef estimates that 50,000 children could die from malnutrition and warns of the loss of an entire generation of South Sudanese youth. The Guardian.
Nigeria: Western lifestyles fuel growing obesity epidemic in Nigeria – Obesity is spreading in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new study that blames westernised lifestyles and warns of health problems to come. The Guardian.
South Africa: Inheriting HIV: A bitter pill to swallow – Ten years after South Africa began providing free HIV treatment, a generation of children born with HIV continues to come of age with the virus. One young Mpumalanga man shares his story. Health-e News.

Research:

Global: Blood test breakthrough in search for Alzheimer’s cure – Test for 10 proteins predicts onset of disease over 12 months in those with mild memory loss with 87% accuracy. The Guardian.

Jobs, awards and events:

Global: 2nd Paediatric Palliative Care Congress in Rome – An announcement has been made that both the Abstract and Early Bird Registration deadlines have been extended for the 2nd Paediatric Palliative Care Congress to take place from 19 – 21 November 2014 in Rome. Both these deadlines have been extended to 15 July 2014. ehospice.
Global: #HPMGlobal twitter chat. Join Jim Cleary on twitter at 3pm (East Africa Time) every Monday to discuss the latest global palliative care issues. Twitter
Global: 20th International AIDS Conference – The conference will be held from 20-25 July 2014 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Melbourne, Australia and will represent a tremendous opportunity to highlight the diverse nature of the Asia Pacific region’s HIV epidemic and the unique responses to it. International AIDS Society.
Global: World Congress of Psycho-Oncology – The congress, which will be based around the theme of ‘Integrating phsycho-oncology into mainstream cancer care; from research into action’, will bring together experts from around the world to discuss new perspectives in clinical care, new data from research, innovative educational programs, advocacy, organisational issues and cancer policies. It is to beheld in Lisbon, Portugal from 20 to 24 of October 2014. International edition of ehospice.
Africa: Find all the latest jobs in palliative care and related fields – Visit ehospice’s job site to see the latest jobs in palliative care. African edition of ehospice.
South Africa: HPCA 2014 Conference – Who Cares? Improving patient outcomes – The conference will be held between the 15^th and 18^th September 2014 at the Lagood Beach Hotel in Cape Town. More details on the HPCA Conference Website.
Kenya: The 4th Kenya National Palliative Care Conference 2014 – Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA) is delighted to announce the 4th National Palliative Care Conference scheduled to take place from 12th to 14th November 2014 at Laico Regency Hotel in Nairobi. KEHPCA.
Nigeria: 54th Society of Physiotherapy Annual Scientific Conference and General Meeting – the sub-theme for this year’s conference is ‘The Role of Physiotherapy in Palliative Care for Terminally ill Patients’. It will take place in Asaba, Delta State between the 20^th and 25^th October 2014. NSP.