Providing Palliative Care in Kenya

Welcome to 2025! Appreciate your continued interest in the work we are doing to meet the care needs of Kenyans with severe illness.

Our most recent class of Clinical Officers graduated on December 13, 2024. Your donations provided critical tuition assistance allowing them to spend the past 18-months in training. I received a very kind email from the class expressing their gratitude for the opportunity to become a board-certified specialist in Palliative Care. I was particularly touched by their statement, “ We are committed to using the knowledge we have gained to make a positive difference in the field of palliative and hospice care.”

In 2021, the Kenyan Ministry of Health estimated there were only 250 healthcare personnel working in palliative care. This is for a country with a population of over 55 million. This is why we are working hard to train individuals in palliative care and hope to add a board certification training for physicians to our educational efforts. Will keep you posted as the curriculum goes through the final national approval process.

Regarding our research efforts, we are currently analyzing the impact of a training program for community health promoters in identifying and coordinating care for sickle cell patients. Kenya has a very high rate of sickle cell disease, and many patients do not survive to adulthood. The reasons are complex but having community healthcare personnel involved may improve coordination of care. We hope to publish our preliminary findings and will let you know when we do.

For those of you who have supported us, we are very thankful. Your help make this work possible. If you have not contributed before, please consider donating! Your assistance will make a difference.

Ken