KEHPCA in partnership with The Waterloo Coalition and the Ministry of Health, is working to support the integration of palliative care into public health services in Kenya with a focus of establishing palliative care in 11 public level 5 and provincial hospitals in Kenya.

The programme began implementing activities in September 2011. Within 5 months, groups of health care professionals selected from different disciplines within eight of the eleven hospitals have under gone the one week course successfully.

KEHPCA was targeted to train 20 delegates per session but has exceeded expectations. In March, 68 delegates instead of 60 were trained. This shows the increasing popularity and demand for training in palliative care and pain management in Kenya.

The one week training courses have been followed by three day placements at designated partner hospices which, jointly, with KEHPCA, facilitate the training, mentorship and support supervision for the health care professionals. The feedback received from the majority of the participants is that the training has been a great eye opener, generating opportunities to strengthen and initiate care and support to the many patients suffering from life threatening conditions as well as the family members.

Furthermore, a number of those trained have expressed an interest in pursuing palliative care at a higher level and have started approaching KEHPCA to link them or offer scholarships for their study, compounding the desire for increased knowledge in palliative care.