New Palliative Care Training Program for Health Care Workers in Humanitarian Settings

By Dr. Megan Doherty

Paediatric Palliative Director – South Asia, Two Worlds Cancer 
Program Director, Palliative Care, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa

In September 2020, we launched an innovative virtual education program- Project ECHO: Introductory Palliative Care for Humanitarian Healthcare Providers, which focusses on supporting healthcare providers working in the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh, where more than 900 000 Rohingya refugees are living. Over the past 9 months, more than 100 healthcare professionals have participated in this interactive online training and mentorship program. It is for both adults and paediatric care as it is general palliative care training.

New Certificate Course Starts:

We are pleased to announce that that the next batch of Certificate Course on Palliative Care will begin on May 28.  Interested participants are invited to register here: https://forms.gle/y9DmCFsMhc2qQhnbA

The program will consist of 11 interactive virtual classes on key palliative care topics, including pain and symptom management, wound care, palliative care delivery in Bangladesh, emotional support for family and caregivers, and sensitive communication.

Each session includes a short didactic teaching session presented by a palliative care expert, followed by an interactive case presentation from participants followed by group discussion.

The course faculty includes national and international palliative care experts who provide teaching and discuss challenging palliative care cases with the participants. Participants are encouraged to participate actively, and discussion occurs in both Bengali and English.

Learning Resources

Course participants have access to palliative care videos (available in both Bengali and English) prepared for the course. A WhatsApp group with participants and faculty will allow dialogue about questions or challenging cases between online session. Moreover, after the course, participants are encouraged to continue to participate in monthly teaching and mentoring sessions with the faculty which have been going on over the past 9 months.

Course Organizers:

This educational initiative is a collaborative partnership of Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration, Fasiuddin Khan Research Foundation and Palliative Care in Humanitarian Aid Situations and Emergencies (PalCHASE), with the support of ECHO India.

FKRF (fkrf.org) is a Bangladesh-based foundation which is working directly on providing palliative care for Rohingya refugees, which is one of the first palliative care programs within a humanitarian response.

Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration Foundation (https://www.twoworldscancer.ca/news-events) is Canadian non-profit foundation. Our team of Canadian and international health care professionals collaborates with local care professionals in lesser-resourced countries to help reduce the burden of cancer and other life limiting illnesses.

PallCHASE is a network of professionals, focused on advocating for the palliative and end of life needs of people affected by humanitarian disasters and mass casualty incidents.

For further information about this program, please contact Mr Saiduzzamin Bhuyian (saiduzz@hotmail.com), course administrator.