Dr. Lee Jong-wook,
WHO Director-General dies
On behalf of all the IAHPC directors, officers, staff and members, we send our deepest condolences to the World Health Organization staff and especially to the family and those who have worked closely with the IAHPC upon the unexpected death of Dr Lee Jong-wook, WHO Director-General. He died on the morning of 22 May 2006 following a sudden illness. Dr. Lee will be remembered for his hard work with vaccines and tuberculosis and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Tributes to Dr. Lee can be sent via email to [email protected] and information about his life and work during his 23 years at WHO can be seen at the www.who.org
Message from the Chair
&
Executive Director
Kathleen M. Foley, MD (USA)
Liliana De Lima, MHA (USA)
Dear All:
Welcome back to this issue of the IAHPC Newsletter.
We just returned from the 4th Research Forum of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) in Venice, Italy. Congratulations to the organizers and the scientific committee for an excellent meeting. This has become the forum where the latest research in palliative care is presented not only in the European context, but also globally.
We were honored to collaborate with EAPC in putting together a session on research in palliative care for developing countries. The panel was co-chaired by Lukas Radbruch representing the EAPC and Liliana De Lima, representing IAHPC.
The panel of speakers included:
Dr. Cynthia Goh - Asia Pacific Hospice and Palliative Care Network (APHN)
Dr. Suresh Kumar - Neigbourhood Network in Palliative Care (NNPC) - India
Dr. Daniela Mosoiu - Eastern and Central Europe Palliative Task Force (ECEPT)
Dr. Anthony Powell - African Palliative Care Association (APCA)
Dr. Roberto Wenk - Latin American Association for Palliative Care (ALCP)
Many thanks to each speaker for accepting our invitation to participate in this panel and for their detailed presentations on the issues, challenges and opportunities they face in doing research in palliative care in their countries and regions.
We believe that research is an important factor in the development and sustainability of palliative care around the world. Although research in palliative care has consistently grown in the past decade, most of it is occurring in developed countries. Unless we all help develop a global research agenda that specifically addresses the needs of developing countries, this gap will continue. We have been working in collaboration with EAPC in the last few months to draft a Declaration to support such an initiative and have invited other organizations to join with us in this effort. We expect to have the Declaration ready and posted in our website within the next month and we will also circulate it in our Newsletters.
We were glad to sponsor Doctors Ibrahim Elfadil from Sudan and Jorge Eisenchlas from Argentina to this research meeting through two IAHPC Traveling Scholarship grants. Dr. Elfadil is now beginning to develop the first palliative care program in his country at the Khartoum University and Dr. Eisenchlas has recently become the director of the new Research Commission of the Latin American Association for Palliative Care. We look forward to their reports.
We are also glad to announce that this month we have granted two Traveling Scholarships to:
- Mrs. Eunice Garanganga, from Harare, Zimbabwe, to cover her travel expenses in order to complete her Masters degree in Palliative Care with Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. Eunice is a nurse working with the Hospice Association of Zimbabwe.
- Dr. Alicia Krikorian, a psychologist, working in the Cancer Institute in Medellin, Colombia to participate in the Congress of the International Psycho Oncology Society in October 2006 in Venice, Italy. Dr. Krikorian works with the palliative care program at the cancer institute and is currently the director of the psycho oncology commission of the Latin American Association for Palliative Care.
This month IAHPC will be participating again in the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Atlanta, Georgia, June 3-7. We are very grateful with the ASCO Foundation for providing us a space in the exhibit hall in the Patient Advocacy Group. As many of you know, this is a very large meeting that brings together cancer specialists from around the world and is a great opportunity to advocate for additional palliative care in advanced cancer among organizations, individuals and companies. I look forward to seeing many friends and members from around the world as well as several Board members.
Until next month,
Kathy Foley, MD
Chair, Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director
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