The conference theme: ‘Spanning diseases, crossing borders,’ speaks to the wide reach of palliative care on the continent, as well as the challenges and solutions common across counties.
Ministers of Health from across Africa will meet today to show their support to APCA and HPCA who are recommending that policy frameworks be developed for the integration of palliative care into health systems.
Highlights of the conference include plenaries and workshops on topics from media and advocacy in palliative care to legislation, human rights and access to medications.
Sessions on children’s palliative care
The second plenary session on Wednesday morning will be delivered by Dr Alison Russell from USAID. Her topic is ” What about children and palliative care? Progress, challenges, lessons and recommendations for the future.”
On Friday ICPCN chair, Joan Marston will be talking on mobilising a network to stop children suffering and her and Prof Julia Downing chairing a workshop on Children’s Palliative Care on Thursday afternoon. Also on Thursday, Prof Downing will present on the development of a comprehensive e-learning programme for children’s palliative care in response to a needs assessment and pilot programme while Busi Nkosi looks at advocacy for children in her session.
Dr Stephen Connor and Chenjerau Sisimayi will report on their research around the three-country assessment of the need for palliative care for children on Friday morning.
The international children’s edition of ehospice looks forward to reporting on these sessions.
ehospice editors from the South Africa, Africa and international editions, as well as conference delegates, will be tweeting live from the event. For
up-to-the-second conference coverage, follow the conference hashtag #hpmafrica.
Dr Liz Gwyther, co-chair of the organizing committee, said: “HPCA are very proud to be joining APCA as they organize their the 4th international conference. It is a great pleasure to welcome colleagues working in hospice and palliative care across the continent and to reflect on the growth in this important field providing care to millions of people in Africa suffering from advanced illness. I hope and anticipate that this conference will be inspirational in the sharing of best practices among many countries, both within Africa and abroad.”
Look out for coverage of the conference on ehospice this week.
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