Message from the Chair
&
Executive Director
Kathleen M. Foley, MD (USA)
Liliana De Lima, MHA (USA)
Dear Readers:
This issue marks the 10th Anniversary of the IAHPC Newsletter! We are very proud of our Newsletter, but most of all we are grateful for the hard work and dedication of our Newsletter editor, Dr. Bill Farr, who over the years has edited and produced each Newsletter. The Newsletter has proven to be a wonderful tool to disseminate information, promote awareness and discuss issues related to the development of hospice and palliative care worldwide. We are proud of his support and dedication and know that this would not have been possible without his help.
We also wish to thank the many newsletter contributors who have supplied us with our outstanding content each month.
As in past issues, we have several important announcements this month.
First, we are currently collaborating with the Department of Medicines Policies and Standards at the World Health Organization (WHO) to help promote issues of access to medications, including analgesics, for patients in need. This includes two important activities:
- Support in developing and implementing a seminar at the 12th International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities in Seoul, Korea which took place April 3-5. This seminar had a panel of speakers that included Mr. David Joranson, director of the Pain and Policy Studies Group at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Dr. Jack G.M. Jagwe, Senior Adviser, Policy, Drugs and Advocacy, Hospice Africa Uganda; and Dr. Robert Ancuceanu, Chief of European Integration Service, National Medicines Agency, Romania. The seminar was called: "Access to Treatment for Severe Pain: What can Regulators do?" and it provided a perspective of how regulators may collaborate with their governments to improve access to pain relief while at the same time, prevent the abuse of medications. We are very grateful that the speakers accepted the invitation to participate in this important event and look forward to the results of this meeting.
- Support in developing an essential list of medicines for palliative care for the Essential Medicines Division and the Cancer Control Program at WHO. IAHPC will work during the next several months to develop such a list based on the consensus of experts who will identify the most effective medications to help improve the lives of patients around the world. At the end of this month, we will be meeting in Salzburg , Austria with more than 30 representatives from regions and organizations around the world to work on this project. By the end of the meeting we hope to have a basic list which IAHPC will continue developing and nurturing in the future. IAHPC has convened a task force chaired by Dr. Neil MacDonald and co-chaired by Dr. Carla Ripamonti to lead this effort. In addition, we have been able to enlist the help from other members of the board as well as external experts for this project.
Last month IAHPC participated in the 3rd Latin American Congress on Palliative Care in Isla Margarita, Venezuela. We had a booth and provided grants to support the travel of three participants. The meeting set a new trend in the congress by adopting a scientific committee for the selection of posters and seminars and by making a public call for proposals. The results were phenomenal and more than 100 posters were presented and more than 50 proposals for the seminars were received. We extend our thanks to the president of the Congress, Dr. Patricia Bonilla, for her dedication and commitment in organizing an excellent congress. We also wish to thank all the speakers who accepted our invitation to participate and congratulations to all our colleagues from Latin America for their hard work, persistence and dedication. The objective of this congress was to establish methods to improve the participation of the palliative care workers in Latin America , not only in the congress but also in research and publication of their work. We are delighted to learn that the congress is already generating results because some works have been submitted for publication in various journals.
We are happy to announce that in March we awarded the following grants to:
- Dr Doan Luc from the Palliative Care and Pain Relief Department at the National Cancer Institute in Hanoi, Vietnam received a Traveling Scholarship to travel to Singapore. Dr Luc attended the Biennial Scientific Meeting of the Singapore Hospice Council and will spend three weeks learning palliative care at the National Cancer Center in Singapore under the guidance of Dr. Cynthia Goh.
- Dr. Snezana Bosnjak from the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia received a Traveling Scholarship to participate in the Advanced course in pain and symptom management in June at the Sir Michael Sobell House in Oxford, UK.
- Dr Michelle Meiring, Director of the Children's Homes Outreach Medical Programme (CHOMP) in Johannesburg, South Africa, received a Traveling Scholarship to attend the 3rd International Cardiff Conference in Pediatric Palliative Care in Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Congratulations to our Scholars for this recognition and for receiving these grants. We look forward to their reports after completing their travels.
Last but not least, we have wonderful news: Our website is now registering daily an average of more than 11,000 hits and more than 5,000 visitors from all over the world! Congratulations to Anne Laidlaw, our webmaster, for her hard work and for making this happen.
Until next month,
Kathy Foley, MD
Chair, Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director
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