The Ministry intends to expand children’s palliative care services to district hospitals and will monitor the provision of children’s palliative care in central hospitals, as well as in the community.
According to the WHPCA Global Atlas on Palliative Care at the End of Life, Malawi is considered to have preliminary integration of palliative care into the health system; palliative care is part of health professional training, and is included in the country’s HIV and AIDS health policy. This specific focus on palliative care for children is a new development.
Kate North, Hospice UK international programmes manager, said: “This is a great success and a testament to the hard work all those working to improve children’s palliative care in Malawi.
“We are delighted that our two country project, funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, has demonstrated the importance of children’s palliative care, and has been a catalyst to ensuring more children can receive the care they need.”
Joan Marston, ICPCN CEO and mentor to the two country project, which has focused on the development of services in Malawi and the Maharashtra district of India, said, “This is indeed excellent and welcome news and we congratulate the team members who have worked so hard to bring this about.”
Joan added, “There is an overwhelming need for children’s palliative care in Malawi and we are very mindful of the importance of building on the work already done in order to ensure that all Malawi’s children who need it, receive palliative care.”
Click here to read more about the two country project.
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