Traveling Scholars Program Report
Anne Marie Liere De Godoy
Travel date: April 11, 2018
Name of Meeting/Event/Activity: IX Congreso Latinoamericano de Cuidados Paliativos de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Cuidados Paliativos (ALCP)
Origin: Mixco, Guatemala / Destination: Santiago, Chile
Photos
Anne Marie Liere De Godoy at the congress How was this meeting/activity helpful to you?
Update and reinforce my knowledge to collaborate in all the necessary advocacy activities (advocacy) in my country, to promote national policies of palliative care, including educational programs for health professionals and other actors; promote information to the public and the active participation of patients and their families.
How will you new knowledge & acquired skills help in furthering your work in hospice and palliative care in your program/city/ or country?
Promote the approval of national policies or regulations that include Palliative Care, and improve the access and availability of opioid medications, eliminating as many of the critical barriers in Guatemala as possible.
How IAHPC Traveling Scholars Program be improved in order to help other future traveling scholars?
I believe that what should be promoted in the countries is greater diffusion of the information about the IAHPC and its programs, since not many people or institutions have knowledge about it. I am very grateful for the opportunity that was given me, to be able to participate in this IX Latin American Congress of Palliative Care. I am committed to the other colleagues in my country to work as a team, and I have been a member of the Opioid Commission for its rational and safe management.
Narrative summary highlighting the needs and challanges you face
It has been conclusive in the IX Congress, the need to develop policies of Palliative Care, and as co-author of the Proposal for a national policy of Palliative Care, presented in November 2014, in conjunction with Dr. Eva Duarte, before the Directorate General of Research From the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, it is important to emphasize that policies are the starting point to adopt and apply a national strategy and action plan in public health to face the changing needs of patients. The needs, gaps and barriers faced by Guatemala, patients with cancer and other chronic diseases, as well as the carers and health services that assist them, should be identified in order to propose actions aimed at improving their quality of life and dignity during the advancement of the disease, through the insertion of palliative care in the comprehensive care of cancer and other chronic diseases. Hopefully, there are already several documents and studies that have advanced in these analyzes, and from which have emerged several recommendations for the "road map" to follow in Guatemala.