KEHPCA participates in the 26th General Assembly Federation of African Medical Students’ Associations (FAMSA), 16th 19th February 2011
KEHPCA was invited to the 26th Federation of African Medical Students’ Associations (FEMSA) General Assembly, hosted by the Medical Students’ Association of Moi University (MSAMU). FESMA brought together students from various Universities in Africa and across the globe. There were representatives from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States of America.
KEHPCA National Coordinator, Dr. Zipporah Ali was the guest of honour and gave the opening keynote address on the ‘Burden of Chronic Diseases in Africa and the Role of Palliative Care’. Dr. Ali highlighted the issue of chronic diseases emerging as a leading cause of death in low-to middle-income countries and that policy makes and all other relevant stakeholders needed to act urgently to change the situation. She encouraged the soon to be doctors to take this up as challenge and help to bring about a change on the disease burden.
KEHPCA also conducted a workshop on palliative care that was facilitated by Dr. Helena Musau and Dr. Ali. Dr. Musau who is the Education and Research Officer at KEHPCA gave an over view of principles of palliative care, the importance of pain management and the challenges Africa is facing when it comes to palliative care. The ‘Frontline Palliative Care’ video was shown to participants. The workshop generated very interesting discussions. The students have requested to have a whole day workshop on pain management and breaking bad news in the near future. Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) is among the first medical schools in Kenya to integrate palliative care into their medical training curriculum. This has been a result of KEHPCA’s strong advocacy supported by the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund; African Palliative Care Association (APCA), Open Society Institute (OSI) and Hospice Care Kenya (HCK). <\p>
KEHPCA IT Officer, Patrick Bowen was able to capture both the workshop and the key note address on video and pictures.