Dear Readers:

We have great news! This past February we sent more than 850 lbs of books, journals and supplies to 45 programs in 16 different countries across the globe as part of our Clearing House Program. We are very grateful to all the individuals, members, hospices, organizations and private companies who donated material to make this possible. We are very glad that IAHPC is able to serve as a bridge and as a facilitator in this process. The journals, books and supplies we sent are very useful in developing countries where they are either unavailable or extremely expensive for patients and palliative care workers.

We are happy to announce that the publication Cuidados Paliativos: Guias de Manejo Clinico (Palliative Care: Guidelines for Clinical Management) edited by both of us and published by IAHPC and the WHO office for the Americas - Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) - is now in press and will be available in mid March. The book has 23 chapters written by authors from Latin America who have vast experience in palliative care, nursing, volunteer training, psychology, communication and bioethics. IAHPC will distribute 1,500 books across the region as well as during the upcoming Congress of the Latin American Palliative Care Association in Montevideo, Uruguay. Many thanks to the authors for their hard work and to Dr. Sylvia Robles and Ms Sara Alvarado at PAHO for their support and commitment in making this book a reality. Most of the publications in palliative care are in English, so we hope that with this book that other individuals and multilateral organizations will feel motivated to write and publish in different languages.

We are also pleased to announce that our Traveling Fellowship program continues to expand. This month the following four fellowships, to three countries, were awarded:

Doctor Steve Radwany from USA will travel to Cuba to the National Cancer Institute where a team of physicians and nurses will spend two weeks teaching palliative care
Doctor Henry Ddungu and Nurse Bernadette Basemera from Uganda to travel to Ghana invited by both the African Medical Trust and the Cancer Society to implement a palliative care program. Doctor Julia Wootton from the UK will travel to Prokopjevsk, Russia to spend time teaching in the New Hospice, a 25 bed facility which opened recently.

This month we received two generous donations for which the organization, directors and officers are very grateful. Many thanks to Grunenthal GmbH for their unconditional donation to support our programs around the world and to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in the USA, for their donation to support our IAHPC Faculty Development Program. We continue to believe in keeping our administrative and operational costs to the minimum so that more funds can be transferred to programs and individuals at the grass roots level. In order to make sound decisions regarding the transfer of funds and support of programs, our Board members are an invaluable group as a source of information on the status of programs and leadership capabilities of individuals in their own countries or regions.

At the end of the month, Liliana will be in Montevideo at the Latin American Palliative Care Congress. IAHPC will also participate in several meetings and congresses throughout the year, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in New Orleans, the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) in Miami and the International Congress on Care of the Terminally Ill in Montreal.

Remember, if you have a congress, workshop or meeting planned, you can announce it in our Calendar of Events and Meetings in our Website at http://www.hospicecare.com/future.htm This is a great opportunity to bring visibility to your event and improve information dissemination. We also invite you to visit our International Directory at http://www.hospicecare.com/Orgs/Orgs.htm  Check to see if your program is listed or if the information we have is correct. There are more than 500 entries in this directory and we are constantly updating the information based on what our readers tell us.

We have added a new page in our Website called Educational Resources which can be either viewed or downloaded for free. It includes publications in Pain, Symptom Management, Bereavement, Nursing, Opioid Availability and other subjects related to Palliative and Hospice Care. We invite you to browse this page in

and take advantage of this additional service to our readers. We also want to make this list as comprehensive as possible so if you know of a publication which is not listed here, please send us the name and URL link to [email protected] Please remember that we also like to include publications in different languages.

Until next month,

Eduardo Bruera, MD
Chair, Board of Directors

Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director