Providing Palliative Care in Kenya

Just got back from a productive trip to Eldoret. The team is doing well and working hard, as always. It was wonderful to see everyone. Most of my effort was directed at planning for our Honor Diploma Course in Palliative Care. This will be the first of its kind in Kenya and will provide one full year of clinical training for experienced nurses, clinical officers, and physicians. During my trip, there was a successful stakeholders meeting that reviewed the curriculum. We had input from education leaders at Moi University, Moi Teaching and Research Hospital, as well as the Dr. Zipporah Ali the Director of the Kenya Hospice and Palliative Care Association and Dr. Margaret Tumwabaze Tusiime, from Hospice Care Africa, Uganda. The curriculum was well received and is now awaiting final approval from the nursing, clinical officer and physician boards.

 The curriculum is innovative. Trainees will spend Monday through Thursday in patient care rotating monthly through various teams at the Moi Teaching Referral Hospital and Weybuye District Hospital. We are also partnering with the Kimbilio Care Center and Hospice that has just opened up a 50 bed hospice in Eldoret. Each Friday students will return to Eldoret for educational efforts. In the morning they will participate in Palliative Care Rounds and the afternoon will consist of a didactic lecture, review of assigned readings, and discussion of illustrative cases.

 While we anticipate significant assistance from North American physicians during the first few years of the course, our true goal is to develop a Kenyan physician who can lead the educational efforts and eventually serve on the faculty of Moi University. For an individual to be eligible for a long-term position at the medical school, we will need to support them for 2 years as they gain the academic requirements for faculty. Given the expenses for the course and faculty development, we will need to raise $60,000 in the next 2 years. We are currently meeting with AMPATH and other leaders to develop a fund-raising plan to reach this challenging goal.

 If it was not for you, we could not have made it this far. Currently Kenyans must travel outside the country to gain Palliative Care degrees and there are no physicians on staff at major universities. This will be a major advance for palliative care in Kenya and your support has been vital in bring this forward.

Thanks as always!