Dear Readers:
Last month, we both traveled to New Delhi, India to participate in the IAPCON Conference 2018, hosted by the Indian Association for Palliative Care, and presided by Dr. Sushma Bhatnaghar, also an IAHPC Board Member. The IAHPC hosted a workshop on advocacy, during which Dr. Katherine Pettus, IAHPC Advocacy Officer, and Dr. Fiona Rawlinson from Cardiff University presented ‘”Palliative care in action – making the change happen” — Developing the advocacy skills for your team.’ Katherine describes in detail the advocacy workshop in her piece in this edition.
The IAHPC also organized, in collaboration with the Indian Association for Palliative Care (IAPC), a two-day workshop on availability and rational use of opioids held just before the conference. Many of you may know that thanks to the work and effort of pain and palliative care leaders in India and the support of civil society organizations (especially Pallium India), in 2014 the government of India enacted changes to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, unifying the law for the whole country. These changes and others that followed in the law improve access to the rational use of opioids to patients, and facilitate the procurement and distribution of opioids in India. The implementation of the Amendment has been slow and this workshop brought together regulators and prescribers from seven states in the country to evaluate and identify current issues and barriers in the implementation of the Amendment.
Participants included representatives from seven states (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh), as well as national leaders from India who have had extensive experience working with the NDPS Act (Drs. M.R. Rajagopal and Nandini Valath, and lawyer Tripti Tandon), representatives from the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office and international faculty members (Lukas and Dr. Jim Cleary from the Pain and Policy Studies Group). Prescribers and drug regulatory authorities met to discuss the challenges and barriers in the implementation of the NDPS Act Amendment. During the discussions it became clear that the Rules governing the Amendment need some clarification and corrections. For many, the workshop was the first opportunity to meet their state’s drug and NCDs authorities, and even brief opportunities to socialize proved to be extremely helpful.
During the workshop, participants identified the barriers to the implementation of the NDPS Act Amendment in their own states and with the aid of the WHO Access to Opioid Medication in Europe guidelines, made an analysis of their current situation. At the end, each group presented an Action Plan, which summarizes their steps and interventions to implement the NDPS Act Amendment in their state. We will continue supporting and providing guidance to these participants so that morphine and other essential medicines are available and accessible to all patients in need.
The IAPCON Conference went quite well — it was attended by more than 700 delegates from several countries and all corners of India. Sushma and her fellows, students, and team did a fantastic job organizing a very successful event. Many thanks to Sushma for inviting Lukas to give a plenary on ‘Challenges for the Integration of Palliative Care in the Health Care Systems in the Low and Middle Income Countries.’
Lukas’s plenary session was followed with a presentation by IAHPC Board Member Dr. Eric Krakauer on the results and recommendations of The Lancet Commission on Palliative Care and Pain Relief. Eric is the second author of the Commission Report and is the brains behind the Essential Package, a series of medicines, products, and interventions designed to relieve most of the suffering caused by severe health conditions.
During the congress, we had the opportunity to listen and learn from many participants from India and many other countries presenting updated information on topics ranging from education, to policy, to research to symptom control, to spiritual care.
And last, but certainly not least, Dr. Sushma was elected President of the Indian Association for Palliative Care. Those of you who know Sushma know that this will mean that she will lead the association to new heights. Hearty congratulations to Dr. Sushma again and best wishes in her role during her term as President of IAPC!!
From New Delhi, Lukas returned home and Liliana traveled to Rome to attend the International Congress of the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV), held from 28 February to 1 March. The title of the congress was ‘Palliative Care: Everywhere & by Everyone. Palliative Care in Every Region. Palliative Care in Every Religion or Belief.’ Many participants representing different faiths and religions as well as representatives of the Catholic Church were present. During the congress, the PAV presented its PAL-LIFE Project, a new international program for global palliative care advocacy. The PAL-LIFE Project has an international advisory working group whose participants have been selected from among key experts on global palliative care advocacy, including: Eduardo Bruera (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), Christina Puchalski (The George Washington University Institute for Spirituality and Health, Washington, D.C.), Emmanuel Luyirika (African Palliative Care Association), M.R. Rajogapal (Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences, India), Sr. Jinsun Yong (Catholic University of Korea), Samy Alsirafy (Cairo University, Egypt), Daniela Mosoiu (Hospice ‘Casa Sperantei,’ Romania), Carlos Centeno (University of Navarra, Spain), Thomas Sitte (Deutsche PalliativStiftung, Germany) as well as Liliana and Katherine Pettus, representing the IAHPC.
Speakers included members of the advisory group as well as other global leaders in palliative care, such as: Dr. Jim Cleary, Director of the Pain and Policy Studies Group; Prof. David Clark, from the University of Glasgow; and Dr. Marie Charlotte Bousseau, from the Department of Service Delivery at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva.
During the past several months, the PAL-LIFE advisory group worked to develop a set of recommendations for 13 stakeholder groups for the implementation of palliative care throughout the globe. These recommendations were presented at the end of the meeting and will soon be available in the PAV website in English and other languages.
In IAHPC news, this past month, the Travel Scholarship grantees were selected for the following conferences:
Avetis Babakhanyan, Masis, Armenia
Erna Rochmawati, Bantul, Indonesia
Eve Namisango, Kampala, Uganda
Lalchhanhima Ralte, Aizawl, India
Oyinloye Oyebukola Oluwatoyosi, Ile Ife, Nigeria
Victorina Ludovick, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Vilma Adriana Tripodoro, Caba, Argentina
Birtar Magdalena-Delia, Brasov, Romania
Chenjerai Bhodheni, Harare, Zimbabwe
Esther Nafula Wekesa, Nairobi, Kenya
Farah Khalid, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Maiara Rodrigues dos Santos, Cacapava, Brazil
Mamak Tahmasebi, Tehran, Iran
Martín Ignacio Mindeguía, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mary Baltasary Haule, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Medson Boti, Blantyre, Malawi
Nehemiya Igulu Bandese, Kampala, Uganda
Piyush Gupta, Lucknow, India
Pradnya Talawadekar, Mumbai, India
Congratulations to the grantees — we hope they will enjoy the congresses and we look forward to their reports after they return.
Until next month,
Lukas Radbruch, MD
Chair, Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director
This newsletter, including (but not limited to) all written material, images, photos are protected under international copyright laws and are property of the IAHPC. You may share the IAHPC newsletter preserving the original design, the IAHPC logo, and the link to the IAHPC website, but you are not allowed to reproduce, modify, or republish any material without prior written permission from the IAHPC.