Hospice Palliative Care
Book Reviews
Dr. Woodruff, MD
(Australia)
 Note:
The Table of Contents for each book reviewed is available in the Bookshop at www.hospicecare.com/Bookstore
Book Reviews
HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE IN AFRICA
A Review of Developments and Challenges
Michael Wright and David Clark
Oxford University Press, 2006
516 pp ISBN 0-19-920680-5
RRP £35, $US 69.50.
Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10% of the world’s population, but is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV—25.8 million of them. This book is the report of a study conducted by David Clark and his team at the International Observatory on End-of-Life Care, supported by The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The book opens with an overview of the study, followed by three wonderful chapters of oral history on the development of hospice and palliative care in Africa. The challenges are and have always been formidable and are now compounded by the AIDS epidemic. What should palliative care comprise in the context of the African culture? How do you develop policies to prevent inspirationally led palliative care services being islands of excellence in an ocean of suffering?
Most of the book is a country-by-country description of what services are available and how they were developed, for which this book must be the definitive resource. I was saddened but not surprised that Sudan, the largest country in Africa , was not indexed and was rated ‘no developed services identified’. But I guess that’s what happens if you have more than 40 years of civil wars, the on-going tragedy in Darfur only being the latest.
This is the definitive text for anybody wanting to know anything about hospice and palliative care in Africa . One can only pray that it will need to be updated frequently as the situation improves.
PALLIATIVE CARE IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
Principles and Practice
Eduardo Burera, Liliana De Lima, Roberto Wenk and William Farr (Eds)
IAHPC Press, 2004
322 pp ISBN 0-9758525-0-7
RRP $US 21.00 (purchasers from developing countries) $US 35.00 (purchasers from developed countries)
Available from the IAHPC website @ www.hospicecare.com
Having just completed the chapter on HIV/AIDS for the next edition of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine, I am again acutely aware of the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ of this world, the great divide between countries like Australia and the resource-poor countries of the so-called ‘developing’ world. In his foreword to this book, Derek Doyle reminds us that while palliative care started in a developed country, it must now cross all man-made barriers and become available to all who need it. This book from IAHPC is a first step along that path. Written by an international panel of contributors (the majority of whom live and work in the developing world), it presents information about the needs and meaning of palliative care viewed from the perspective of the developing world. And it includes practical advice on palliative care for diseases such as TB, malaria and rabies. Looking at the book as a whole, I am proud to have contributed the opening chapter on basic principles, but feel guilty for not having appreciated the wealth of important information that the book presents. Liliana De Lima and the team at IAHPC press are to be congratulated for a well-produced, inexpensive and most informative book. If you work in the developing world, or have interests in the development and practice of palliative care in the developing world, you should buy this book.
STEPPING INTO PALLIATIVE CARE 2. 2nd edition
Care and Practice
Jo Cooper (Ed)
Radcliffe Publishing, 2006
254 pp ISBN 1-85775-792-0
RRP £21.95, $US 39.95
This second volume of Stepping into Palliative Care is an introduction to the medical aspects of palliative care. There are chapters on pain management and a framework for symptoms management. Mouth care, lymphoedema, wound care, emergencies, and terminal restlessness have their own chapter. There are also good chapters on breaking bad news, looking after the carers, bereavement, and the special needs of the neurological patient.
Like the first volume, the set-out of this book is excellent with the liberal use of headings, bullet-point lists, diagrams, tables and case scenarios. There are reflective exercises and self-assessment questions in each chapter. This would be a useful book to have on a palliative care service for nurses and junior medical staff to use in sorting out day-to-day problems.
MORE JOY THAN SORROW
Judy Voss
E-O-L Publishing, 2006
195 pp ISBN 1-60034-115-2
RRP $US 13.99
Here are some more lessons from the bedside from one of the Florida Hospice nurses who brought you Dying with Joy and Sorrow. This collection of stories is interspersed with comments from famous or well-known people about how they dealt when confronted with a life-threatening illness. There is also a stronger (Christian) religious vein in this volume with numerous quotations from the scriptures. As with the first volume, this book will enrich any palliative care personnel who read it and would be a comfort to a layperson coping with a dying relative.
MY EXPERIENCE OF TRUTH
One Journey Through the Maze of Breast Cancer
Angelika Preston
AuthorHouse, 2006
106pp ISBN 1-4259-4969-X
RRP $US 33.99
This is a photo journal following one woman’s journey through surgery and chemotherapy for breast cancer. Each photograph is accompanied by just a few lines of her inner thoughts. It is very insightful and would be a comfort to any woman doing the journey or those close to them. She emerges a stronger person: ‘Today I know it is not only what I see outwardly, but also what is illuminated inside. The latter is my truth.’
Roger Woodruff,
Director of Palliative Care, Austin Health,
Melbourne, Australia
(January 2006)
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