On 1 August it was officially announced that the 2025 South African Palliative Care Conference will take place from 18 – 21 June in Durban, South Africa. Following the enormous success of the first collaborative conference that took place in Cape Town in 2023, once again, the conference will be presented as a collaborative venture between the three leading palliative care organisations in the country, being the Association of Palliative Care Practitioners of South Africa (PALPRAC), Palliative Care for Children South Africa (PatchSA) and the Association of Palliative Care Centres (APCC). The venue for this event is the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani Hotel in Durban, KwaZulu Natal. Early Bird registration for the conference will open on 15 August 2024.
The conference promises to be an extraordinary gathering of professionals dedicated to the advancement of palliative care. Our intention to host the conference in KwaZulu-Natal is to drive growth and development in the palliative care sector within the province through regional expertise and collaboration. The 2025 Palliative Care Conference aims to foster a deeper understanding of the critical role palliative care plays in our healthcare system, share innovative practices, and build networks that strengthen our collective efforts. By bringing together healthcare professionals, researchers, policymakers, and advocates, this conference will serve as a platform for insightful discussions, knowledge sharing, and professional development.
The chosen theme for the conference is Palliative Care: Revolution. Evolution. Solution. Expanding on the theme, the organisers have described the rationale behind each of the words used as follows:
- We are calling for fundamental transformation of the existing status quo to ensure palliative care is viewed as an obligation of the healthcare system, equal in value to preventative, curative and rehabilitative care.
- We want to celebrate palliative care models that have evolved to better serve the needs of a diverse South African population, encompassing communities of every age, culture, belief system and socioeconomic status.
- Our conference will be illuminating innovative problem solving within programmes that address barriers to the provision of quality palliative care for all.
This where we enrich our knowledge, inform and educate other, let put our abstract ready, let show case our work.