Paediatric Palliative Care is moving forward in the Portuguese speaking world!

March 2021 will be in the Paediatric Palliative Care history books, as it marks the launch of a collaboration between the two major Portuguese-speaking countries, Portugal and Brazil.

The initiative was an idea of Dr Esther Ferreira, a pediatric rheumatologist with a special interest in Paediatric Palliative Care, who is one of the founders of the Rede Brasileira de Cuidados Paliativos Pediátricos (Brazilian Network of Paediatric Palliative Care). Esther approached Dr Ana Lacerda, a paediatric oncologist with advanced training in Paediatric Palliative Care, who since 2013 has been coordinating the Portuguese Paediatric Palliative Care working groups (Grupo de Apoio à Pediatria – Associação Portuguesa de Cuidados Paliativos e Grupo de Trabalho de Cuidados Continuados e Paliativos da Sociedade Portuguesa de Pediatria).

Esther & Ana

This was of course enthusiastically welcomed by all, and aptly named Grupo Lusófono de Cuidados Paliativos Pediátricos (GLCPP; Lusophone Group of Paediatric Palliative Care), as the group is hoping to expand to all other Portuguese speaking countries. This community, representing a population of 270 million people set in Europe, South America, Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania, currently has nine member states (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Equatorial-Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste) and 19 associate observers (www.cplp.org).

This is the more relevant as in ICPCN’s latest update of Paediatric Palliative Care provision levels (2019), except for Brazil (level 3 – evidence of localized palliative care provision for children and availability of training) and Portugal (level 4 – evidence of broad palliative care provision for children with training available and focused plans for the development of services and integration into health care services) all other countries have no recognized provision (level 1).

The first activity of the GLCPP will take place on Saturday, May 1, 2021. It will be a 90-minute webinar to present the Brazilian Network and discuss the national experiences on developing Pediatric Palliative Care. You can sign up on this free registration form: https://forms.gle/H6eX45TW8e8jeYYMA).

The group expects to follow with periodical meetings, symposia, webinars, case discussions, and of course the development and/or translation and adaptation of tools for clinical and research purposes – stay tuned for future events and news!

Ana and Esther said “We are very excited and looking forward to work together and improve the quality of life of children with palliative care needs in the Lusophone world! If you want to join us and be part of our mailing list, please send us an email!”