With twenty-nine years of palliative care services in Uganda, World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (and the week leading up to it) was something to celebrate.

One notable event was a public lecture on palliative care, which was organised by the Ministry of Health (MOH) plus the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) and facilitated at the Davis Lecture Hall (Makerere College of Health Sciences, Mulago Hospital). It was encouraging to see so many students and healthcare professionals, as well as the online attendees on Zoom, on the afternoon of Wednesday, 5th October. 

The team of Mulago Palliative Care Unit (MPCU)/Palliative care Education and Research Consortium (PcERC) was actively engaged in the public lecture. The team managed the registration table and handed out brochures and drinks. Both the team working in Kiruddu and Mulago Hospitals came for the event and were very proud to see their own Dr Liz Namukwaya present about the unit and sit in the Q&A panel.

Dr Liz Namukwaya spoke on the unit’s clinical activities, role in education, and extent of research. With an estimated 46% of patients admitted needing palliative care, the palliative unit alongside LINK nurses has served 12,520 patients since 2008. The unit has also trained over 3,500 students, from postgraduate and undergraduate doctors, nurses, pharmacists, to social workers. 

Several other doctors presented on palliative care; first, Dr Fredrick Nelson Nakwagala, the Clinical Head Directorate of Internal Medicine at Mulago Hospital, talked about non-malignant conditions requiring palliative care. He shared stories of breaking bad news and encouraged fellow healthcare professionals to see the patient as a person, not as their illness. Dr Peter Lwabi, the Deputy Executive Director of the Uganda Heart Institute, then addressed the interdisciplinary approach of palliative care and cardiology.

The keynote speaker Dr David Okello presented on community engagement for alleviating pain and suffering in palliative care patients. As the Executive Director at African Center for Global Health and Social Transformation, he shared about the effectiveness of community involvement in COVID-19 and how the community contributes to holistic care. 

The public lecture availed to much discussion among the Q&A panel and several remarks from palliative care leaders in attendance. The questions from the audience had to be cut short due to time, yet many were requesting for palliative care refresher trainings. Dr Anne Merriman, founder of Hospice Africa Uganda (HAU), gave some of the closing remarks as she reminded us to take care of the carers; that is, amid all the clinical activities, training, and research, we ought to care for ourselves and our colleagues.

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD) then was on Saturday, 8th October. The theme for this year was “Healing Hearts & Communities” which aligned well to the messages shared in the public lecture.

The palliative care unit of MPCU/PCERC was actively involved in the day’s events from the National Palliative Care Walk in the morning to the PCAU Palliative Care Fraternity football match. The unit contributed to the sponsorship of the day and assisted with the organisation, and they were glad to meet others who worked in palliative care across Uganda. The walk was about 4 km long, which started in the Mulago field/playground to Kamwokya (around Acacia Mall) and back again.

Liz Nabirye, the Clinical Lead of PcERC, noted that “it was a good health exercise and the first time to celebrate together since COVID. Later back at Mulago, we had speeches were made from the director of PCAU [Mark Mwesiga] and each palliative care organisation had time to talk about what they do.” She specifically recalls meeting other units from Masaka in western Uganda as well as Jinja (east-central), and they were able to share what services they offer and how they could refer patients to each other. “It was a unifying celebration for us, it was a palliative care fraternity,” Liz concluded.

This day of advocacy and awareness to palliative care was true to its theme, and healing hearts and the community involved a bit of fun! The team had practiced for weeks for this, and how it was finally here: a football match of representatives of the palliative care fraternity against members of the Ugandan Parliament. The two representatives from PcERC, Toko Friday and Bemustar, played well and tried their best. But in the end the parliamentarians wone the match, 6-3.

Nevertheless, PcERC was awarded a certificate of participation, and the team brought many good memories and new contacts from the day. “For me as the lead,” Liz Nabirye told me, “I would just say being a part of the events was a good thing to happen to our unit; we were able to create awareness, be represented, and be involved in the preparations. The week was for our advocacy … it raised visibility for palliative care services at the national referral hospitals.”