Author: Sophie Kieffer, PALLChase Advocacy Working Group Member
I have been an advocate for global palliative care for nearly 15 years, and I feel just as passionate about it today as I did when I first shadowed a palliative care nurse in Meru, Kenya 2013. In recent years I have focused on palliative care efforts in conflict settings and have sadly seen the needs arise as more and more countries are experiencing conflict today. Through my volunteer work at PallCHASE, I have been fortunate to attend several events and conferences on their behalf.
At this year’s UN General Assembly, I attended the side events that were open to the public. I listened to many panels related to health, and especially the challenges for those who have been displaced by conflict. I met colleagues who worked in countries I have visited, and we discussed sometimes overlooked health issues such as cancer care and pain management. I shared with these colleagues that I have been working in Somalia for the past few years, and that in 2023 the country had only one registered oncologist. I often have discussions with people about how life-limiting illnesses do not skip a country because of the situation there.
And two months ago, I attended a global health conference in Chicago hosted by the NGO MedGlobal. When I told conference attendees about my advocacy work, they almost always said that this was the first time they had even thought about palliative care in this context.
The more I shared with them, the more they saw the relevance or gave me examples of where these services could be utilized. The head of the conference even said this was something MedGlobal would want to incorporate into their medical missions.
I hope that in the years to come, we will have more palliative care representatives on these types of panels and conferences, and that large health organizations will have palliative care better integrated into their health programs.
I’m so grateful for this PallCHASE community of clinicians and advocates who work tirelessly and often with minimal resources or recognition, and yet whose work I am so proud to share at these conferences.
