Providing Palliative Care in Kenya

Jambo Palliative Care Supporters,

Hello from Eldoret! I arrived January 4^th to sunshine and 70-degree weather. A very welcome break from the cold of Indianapolis. Moreover, it is great to see the important work ongoing by the dedicated physicians, clinical officers, and nurses here in Kenya.

This trip, I’ve been joined by a fantastic Palliative Care Fellow Amith Rao. He is here as part of his clinical training in palliative care at Indiana University and has been working with the teams at the hospitals in the area. His presence makes me think back to my first trip here when I was doing my Palliative Care Fellowship. In the ensuing 10 years, your support for our efforts has fostered expansion of clinical care, teaching, and research in Western Kenya.

Looking ahead, we have several goals for 2026. Two Kenyan physicians are enrolled in our 2-year Palliative Care fellowship, the first board certification program in Africa. We plan a third class of our Palliative Care Specialist Program for clinical officer. We have two additional IU fellows coming in this Spring to work with our Kenyan colleagues. We are seeking funding from the NIH to expand on our work in delivering palliative care to rural Kenya through training Community Health Promoters. Honestly, we do not know how the grant will be viewed, given the changes at US National Institutes of Health. Nevertheless, we will try our best.

As I prepare for my trip home later this week, I have been reflecting on the changes in USA support for global health initiatives. It intensifies the gratitude I have for your support. Thanks for helping to make the world a better place.  

With great appreciation,

Ken

Hi All! 

One of the important ways we can try and bring palliative care services to the very rural areas of Kenya is to support healthcare works in these remote areas. For over 3 years now, our research coordinator Sarah Nyariki RN and Dr. Hussein Elias have been conducting a monthly Project ECHO program. 

If you are not familiar with Project ECHO, it stands for Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes and was started by the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center to link specialty care physicians with primary care providers. The AMPATH Palliative Care ECHO program is a virtual platform that is free for participants. A typical meeting is one hour that is divided into a didactic lecture by a subject matter expert, followed by a difficult case presentation by a healthcare worker in the community. A panel of experts attend the meeting to help answer questions brought by the presenter and other community healthcare workers.

Sarah and Hussein have been collecting data on the number and general satisfaction of the participants. In the first year we had 446 unique participants and by year 3 it has grown to over 600. Initial participants were from Western Kenya but we now have attendees from throughout Kenya and an increasing number of international participants. Most participants are nurses and clinical officers. We are happy to report that a report of our findings was just accepted for publication in the African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine. Congratulations Sarah and Hussein!

While we continue to improve access to palliative care, our program like many others is facing challenges. We had hoped to submit to the US NIH to support our research programs in palliative care and in sickle cell disease, but the long-standing system for support is being revised. We hope clarity will be provided next month so we can submit our grant proposals.

More than ever, we greatly appreciate any support you can provide!

Take care,

Ken