Are healthcare professionals still able to gather in person to share ideas in this post COVID-19 world? With the appropriate precautions and flexible options for virtual or physical attendance, the African Palliative Care Association showed us that this is indeed possible with their 7th international conference themed “Palliative Care in a Pandemic.”

The APCA Conference 2022 was held from the 24th to 26th August at the beautiful méstil hotel located in Kampala, Uganda. Attendees came from all over the globe; Dr Mhoira Leng and Prof Julia Downing were able to attend in person, as well as Josephine Kabahweza, Liz Nabirye, Florence Nalutaaya, Dr Liz Namukwaya, and Toko Friday Santiago from MPCU/PcERC. It was a pleasure to see other Ugandan colleagues, like Vicky Opia from Peace Hospice Adjumani and Cathy Magoola from Kiruddu Hospital.

The conference encouraged participants like MPCU/PcERC social worker and volunteer coordinator Toko Friday Santiago, especially with discussions on advocacy for those in fragile settings with unmet palliative care needs. Toko shared that he has seen many refugee families in need, and those who are able to travel to Mulago Hospital in Kampala often do not have the funds to complete investigations, buy meals, or even travel back to their settlements. With advocacy for palliative care for all, we need to reach out to NGOs, the Ugandan government, and religious leaders. The conference spurred Toko to consider how to garner support to patients and families most in need at Kiruddu and Mulago Hospitals, and he hopes to present his methods and the challenges that the families and caregivers experience at the next APCA Conference.

A few of this year’s presentations came from our very own Cairdeas team and partners. Dr Mhoira Leng spoke about “Humanitarian settings and palliative care in Africa,” highlighting the significant burden of palliative care needs and chronic diseases, as well as high levels of mental distress, that affect the host and refugee populations in Northern Uganda. Dr Mhoira emphasised on ground-up, integrated palliative care in such fragile communities.

This presentation was complimented by Vicky Opia from Peace Hospice Adjumani as she discussed “Community Empowerment through Palliative care Education and Mentorship of Village Health Teams Providing Healthcare to South Sudanese Refugees in Adjumani and Obongi Districts, Uganda.” Prof Julia Downing also spoke during the conference, where she served as a chair to three panel discussions and presented on “Children’s palliative care in a pandemic.”

Then Florence Nalutaaya, a senior nurse from MPCU/PcERC, presented on “Empowering Health professionals through education and mentorship to improve children’s palliative care provision in Uganda,” where she shared the paediatric trainings and mentoring accomplished by the MPCU/PcERC team and sponsored by Laura Case Trust and ICPCN. Through the five day training and follow-up mentorship, they were able to equip 40 healthcare professionals and 2 counsellors with children’s palliative care training.

Dr Liz Namukwaya, also from the MPCU/PcERC team, spoke on “Palliative care needs of patients admitted to the emergency department of Kiruddu National Referral Hospital in Uganda” from a Yale University-sponsored research project. Dr Liz shared that in this research, they discovered needs for palliative care training in hospital emergency workers as well as a high level of holistic palliative care needs in the 100 surveyed patients.

Key takeaways were many with such an abundance of presenters and knowledge from around the world. MPCU/PcERC clinical lead Liz Nabirye reflected on many: the highlighted importance of palliative care approaches to grief and bereavement from the pandemic, integrating palliative care services into the health systems, and confronting misconceptions of palliative care in public healthcare. What stuck Liz the most though was “how we could use technology to increase access to palliative care, how we can cost effectively use technology. For example, in a setting when there are low resources, telephone calls or WhatsApp can be used to follow up with patients or make interdisciplinary consults.” She noted that the conference itself was both physical and virtual, showing us the flexibility and opportunities coming from the use of technology.

Florence Nalutaaya added that the pre- and post-conference workshops were also inspiring, and she was glad to exchange contacts with facilitators to further discussions. Both Liz and Florence highlighted research on sickle cell patients that could improve the pain and symptom management as well as provide evidence-based advocacy on the effective opioid use in those with sickle cell. 

When requested for any last words on the APCA Conference 2022, the MPCU/PcERC team were keen to speak of its praises. Nurse Josephine Kabahweza wrote that the conference was great; she “had a lot to learn from others, panel discussions and poster presentations” and thanked Cairdeas in particular for the sponsorship so they could attend. Toko Friday Santiago still remembers one of the opening sessions of the conference. “As we offer support to our patients and families, what is the main goal of our work?” Toko asked, and then quickly answered, “Of course, the main goal is to improve quality of life, and of course as we improve quality of life, we bring a smile to them and bring hope.”

Florence Nalutaaya then summarised the whole experience, declaring, “The conference was good, and it shouldn’t be missed: you share ideas, you get to know how to move around the potholes of patient and organisational management … you get new friends, old friends, and hear how they are exceling and how they are not doing well so you can encourage each other. Palliative care is for all, and we all should be the same, not leaving anyone behind.”