Transforming Childrens's Palliative Care Globally

This is a busy time for all of us at ICPCN as we prepare for our 4^th International children’s palliative care conference being held in just a few weeks time in the Philippines. It is exciting to feel the momentum and excitement within the community as we prepare to meet up face-to-face for our first conference since 2018 when we were in Durban. As we prepare for this and for celebrating our 20^th anniversary there is much to do and much to be thankful for.

Our book on stories from around the world from families, as well as health professionals, board and staff members has gone to the printers and should be published in time for our conference. The book called ‘Heart Strings – stories shared of children’s palliative care’ includes stories from around the world – demonstrating the importance of children’s palliative care but also our global reach. It is important that amongst all the busyness, we should stop and listen to the voices of children and families and what it is like for them day to day while caring for a terminally ill child – the joys and the sadness – on this often lonely journey.

Earlier this month we celebrated #HatsOn4CPC Day. The second Friday in October is a day for raising international awareness of the need for children’s palliative care and the work of CPC services worldwide. The theme for this year was a birthday celebration for our 20^th anniversary and it was great to see the engagement from around the world, the photos and the events taking place to raise awareness for children’s palliative care globally – thank you to everyone who took part.

We are moving full steam ahead towards our conference being held in Manila from the 12^th-15^th November – please do come and join us as we celebrate all that is happening for children’s palliative care around the world, as well as our 20^th Birthday! The theme of the conference is milestones and horizons and whilst celebrating the milestones we also look ahead as to how we can continue to develop children’s palliative care around the world. We look forward to seeing many of you there. 

We continue to build capacity across the world for children’s palliative care and have been supporting a virtual training programme for the EMRO region, one for Latin America and one aimed at nurses.  We have also participated in several conferences including the African Palliative care conference and the SIOP conference. The WHO palliative care working group also took place last year and we are delighted to be working with the WHO and other partners on advocacy activities. 

Please do check out our website for ongoing news about ICPCN and children’s palliative care globally, and to read our 20^th anniversary series! Please also look out as we launch our “Miles for Millions” campaign as we seek to raise funds for ICPCN. 

Thank you again for your continued support.

Links:

• See our friends in Ghana joining #HatsOn4CPC day
• Read about #HatsOn4CPC here