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IAHPC’s Faculty Development Program (FDP)
(Tanzania) – Progress report
PROJECT: PALLIATIVE CARE FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
SPONSOR: INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE CARE
BENEFCIARY: MUHIMBILI UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES
IMPLIMENTING AGENCY: OCEAN ROAD CANCER INSTITUTE (ORCI)
FELLOW: DR MSEMO B. DIWANI
REPORT PERIOD: JULY – SEPTEMBER, 2007
The two main objectives for the FDP project were:
- To introduce palliative care to the curricula for medical and nursing students in our medical school.
- To apply WHO’s public health model to scale up palliative care services in Tanzania. This includes advocating for palliative care policy, drug availability and training.
During this period, exciting developments took place regarding the WHO public health approach to palliative care.
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Training
In July, ORCI in collaboration with the oncology nursing society successfully organized a 3 day regional end-of-life palliative care course for 45 nurses at ORCI. The training which was opened by the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Health and Social Welfares brought participants from Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Zanzibar. This intensive course had 5 eminent faculty members from the US who together with the ORCI palliative care team managed to raise the profile of nursing palliative care in this region - the first of its kind to be conducted in Africa. During the same month, a very important palliative care sensitization workshop for 23 heads of government health facilities in the Southern zone was also conducted at ORCI by the palliative care team which I lead. This included regional, district and special hospitals in this zone. During this workshop lectures were given on how to manage common palliative care symptoms such as pain, dysponea and constipation.
In August, ORCI organized the first thematic workshop on cancer control in East Africa. Of note, we had a palliative care working group which brought together strong palliative care advocates such as Faith Mwangi-Powel of APCA, Mary Callaway of OSI, Stuart Brown and Fraser Black from INCTR. It was suggested that the Tanzania Palliative Care Association (TPCA) consider a subcontract with ORCI to provide educational programs. ORCI has the palliative care infrastructure, whereas TPCA has the money, but it lacks the expertise. TPCA’s Board of Trustees will discuss this proposal during a future board meeting.
Coming soon
A six weeks palliative care training course for health professionals will take place in November. This will help to establish palliative care teams in 15 hospitals of the Eastern zone. This will hopefully improve access to palliative care services and oral morphine in this area. A palliative care sensitization workshop for media and community plus a pediatric palliative care workshop for pediatricians are scheduled to take place between Jan-Feb, 2008. Other routine activities such as palliative care clinics, outreach programs, ward rounds, in house professional development, and academic meetings are continuing as usual.
Conclusion
The IAHPC faculty development program is going well, however the greatest challenge we face is that palliative care still does not exist as a separate and examinable subject in the medical school curriculum. We are not certain when it will be officially adopted. This frustrates those of us who strongly believe in palliative care. We will not give up until palliative care is fully integrated into the medical curriculum.
DR MSEMO B. DIWANI, Fellow
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