Dear readers,
Last month, several storms in different regions of the world resulted in severe flooding in countries in Africa, Asia and North America. And this month, Hurricane Irma affected many islands in the Caribbean and is heading towards the USA. We are very sorry for the loss of life and property of thousands of people who are now suffering because of the effects of these storms and this hurricane. Many are now displaced and living in refugee camps and many of them are persons with palliative care needs.
One of these storms, tropical storm Harvey, which dumped large amounts of rain over Texas and flooded many cities, including Houston, impacted our ability to respond to requests and inquiries. We are all well and safe, although we are sad to say that the house of the IAHPC Coordinator of Directories, Julia Libreros, was flooded and she and her husband had to evacuate. Please bear with us during these difficult times and we ask for your patience and understanding if we are unable to respond in the timely manner we usually do. All of us at IAHPC are very grateful for the show of support and concern from our friends throughout the globe.
On the positive side, a few things to highlight . . .
Last month IAHPC organized an Advocacy Workshop for Palliative Care in Bogota with participants from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Liliana and Dr. Katherine Pettus, IAHPC Advocacy Officer, facilitated along with Ms. Isabel Pereira from De Justicia (NGO) and Dr. Tania Pastrana, President of the Latin American Association for Palliative Care (ALCP).
This was the second in a series of workshops on advocacy that we are doing in Latin America. Participants included presidents of the national palliative care associations and representatives from the corresponding ministries of health of each country. Dr. Katherine Pettus gives more information in her Policy and Advocacy page. Through these workshops we hope to build working and collaborative relationships between healthcare workers and governments to advance palliative care policies and programs. A third workshop for Central American countries will be in Guatemala at the end of October.
IAHPC benefits every day from the hard work of our members who are devoted to the advancement of hospice and palliative care worldwide. Members exemplify a continuing commitment to patient care, improving education and developing favorable policies consistent with our mission. To celebrate our Members’ Month, IAHPC will be giving two prizes (a Traveling Scholarship or Traveling Fellowship of up to $2,000). Prizes will be given in two categories: a) Recognizing member loyalty and b) Increasing our membership. You can find more information on the IAHPC Members Matter page.
We are very grateful for the support we receive through your membership fees and donations, which enables us to support palliative care education by providing small grants through the IAHPC Traveling Scholars’ Program. As a way of showing our gratitude, Moonshine Movies developed a thank you video for us. The video features many palliative care workers from around the globe who received scholarships to travel to, and take part in, the 15th EAPC World Congress of Palliative Care held in Madrid, Spain, earlier this year. We hope you like it as much as we do!
On another positive note, we are glad that through a joint effort with the World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, and the IAHPC members in many countries, several member states and representatives of Civil Society Organizations, submitted letters and requests for the inclusion of palliative care in the text of the outcome document called Montevideo Roadmap, which presents the priorities for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) for 2017-2030 . The final version of the document will be presented at the WHO Global Conference on NCDs, which will take place in Montevideo, 18-20 October 2017. You can read the draft and submissions here .
And last but not least, we are very sad to announce that Ms. Avril Jackson, Senior Editor of this IAHPC Newsletter will be leaving her position at the end of the year. Avril has been working in this role for the past three years and during her tenure she worked relentlessly to publish an excellent newsletter every month. She also took on the task of editing the bios of all the directors and gave us guidance and expert advice on press releases and reports. Her attention to detail and extraordinary ability to relate to the contributors of the newsletter, and to work with the rest of the IAHPC team, were amazing. (We will miss you Avril – many thanks for your time and dedication!)
We are now in the process of identifying potential candidates for the position of senior editor for the IAHPC Newsletter (NL) and a few weeks ago sent a call for applications. This edition of the NL includes an extract from the call and instructions to apply. The deadline is September 30, so if you are interested, please read more here.
Until next month,
Lukas Radbruch, MD
Chair, Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director
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