Providing Palliative Care in Kenya

by Indiana Institute for Global Health, Inc.

Project Report | Feb 5, 2021
Palliative Care Outreaching into Rural Kenya

By Kenneth Cornetta | Project Leader

JAMBO!

I suspect most of us have been looking forward to 2021. Unfortunately, it appears we will still be dealing with COVID19 for a while. This also means the need to provide Palliative Care is even greater.

The AMPATH program, led by Dr. Hussein Elias in Eldoret, has continued to train Community Health Volunteers. To date, 80 individuals have participated in a 3 day training in Palliative Care, which has included information regarding COVID19. Since going back into their rural communities, the trainees have assessed over 1,000 individuals for physical and psychosocial distress. Seventy five of the individuals assessed required referral to a palliative care clinics for symptom management. Our budget for this program was 10 trainings. Given the positive impact we have been able to show, we hope to expand the program throughout Western Kenya. Any contribution you provide will assist us in this expansion.

We continue to hone our curriculum for training clinical officers and nurses as Palliative Care specialists. COVID19 has provided challenges for learners but have also used this opportunity to develop a Western Kenya Palliative Care Teleconference. This is a monthly online meeting that combines a sort didactic lecture on a specific topic, and then allows Palliative Care practitioners to present challenging cases for group discussion. The first teleconference was help in January of 2021 and was well attended with a great discussion.

The AMPATH program is grateful to the amazing Kenyan Clinicians who continue to provide clinical care during the pandemic. We also thank those who support their efforts. The program continues to grow and you are a key to our success!

Please stay safe! - Ken

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