Photo caption: Dr Farzana Khan (front), with Dr Suresh Kumar and Professor Nezamuddin Ahmad
A practical handbook on palliative care in Bangladesh has been published this week in Dhaka. The book: ‘Let’s get to know palliative care’, by Dr Farzana Khan, is the first of its kind to be authored and originally published in the Bangla language.
Dr Suresh Kumar, international palliative care pioneer and director of the Institute of Palliative Medicine in Kerala, India, helped to launch the book on a recent visit to Bangladesh.
Dr Khan is a specialist in palliative medicine and pain research in Bangladesh. She works as programme manager at the Centre for Palliative Care, Department of Palliative Medicine, at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka. She is a world leader in developing and delivering compassionate palliative care programmes in low income settings.
The book is informed by Dr Khan’s experience delivering palliative care to adults and children in Bangladesh, including in Korail Slum and Narayanganj City Corporation in Dhaka, and in the humanitarian emergency context of the Rohingya refugee camp.
At the launch of her book, Dr Khan said: “To my knowledge, this is the first Bangla book on palliative care in the world.
“I hope that it will help to make palliative care accessible and understandable to Bangla speaking healthcare professionals and key stakeholders. We need to integrate our feelings, thoughts and actions in more practical ways to achieve sustainable development goals by 2030, where palliative care can actually be a game-changer.”
The new book covers essential topics in palliative care, including:
- Introduction to palliative care
- International perspectives on palliative care
- Palliative care – Bangladesh perspective
- Sustainable Development Goals and palliative care
- Universal Health Coverage and palliative care
- Poverty reduction and palliative care
- Small discussion on death.
The book is available to download free of change from the WHPCA website.
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