INSIGHTS – 2023 Q1
We have started 2023 with a lot of positive news to highlight. It‘s pivotal a year for Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration as we look to build on the success and impact of our programs.
With our partners we are working to the Close The Care Gap and continue to push to Close the Circle on cancer. That means helping build sustainable capacity to support accessible and equitable cancer prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and cure, as well as our continued support for palliative and end-of-life care.
In the photo above, family members of a young woman in care at the Kumudini Devi Hospice Palliative Care Centre in Hyderabad share a moment looking at family photos. Palliative care is patient and family-centred care.
Photo: Harsha Vadlamani/Two Worlds Cancer
With this edition of INSIGHTS we are pleased to share Reportage 2022 highlighting the progress of our partner-driven programs last year.
None of this is possible without you, our donors, and we are incredibly thankful for your generosity. As we look to expand our programs and impact, we need your support in 2023 more than ever.
Please consider a donation today or become a Compassionate Partner by joining our monthly donors
Dr. Megan Doherty recognized for her humanitarian work
2023 Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians Humanitarian Award
We are excited to share that Dr. Megan Doherty has been the awarded the 2023 Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians Humanitarian Award.
Dr. Doherty is our palliative care director for the Sunflower Children‘s Network. Her vision for online education through the Project ECHO model is behind our successful virtual train-the-trainer approach to building care capacity in regions that lack the specialized expertise in palliative care. Since 2020, our online education has provided training for 3000+ healthcare providers.
Dr. Doherty also shares her expertise with the WHO, IOM UN Migration, World Hospice and Palliative Care Alliance, World Child Cancer and Médecins Sans Frontières. She is a founding & executive member of PallCHASE (Palliative Care in Humanitarian Aid Situations).
Dr. Doherty is Program Director, Palliative Care at CHEO (Children‘s Hospital Eastern Ontario) and a palliative care team member at Roger Neilson House children‘s hospice, both in Ottawa.
Our congratulations on this well-deserved recognition and our thanks for your commitment to local and global palliative care!
Nepal's palliative care programs
Community health worker Chennia visits a patient at her home village in the Makwanpur District in Nepal.
Video Still: Michael BrownTwo Worlds Cancer
Two Worlds Cancer volunteers are visiting our partners in Nepal, April 18 – May 8. Our Nepal program leads, Dr. Robin Love and Leslie Sundby are visiting for their 11th and 7th times respectively since their early involvement with Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital (BCH) and the original hospice twinning project – Partners in Compassion. They will be joined by Drs. Jacqueline Hui and Christian Mackin and nurse Robyn Dunstan. The team will visit BCH and our other partners in the Kathmandu Valley, and Dharan in eastern Nepal to help with palliative care education and clinical training, and the further development of palliative care programs.
Developing rural palliative care combined with rural health outreach has been a priority for Two Worlds Cancer. A sustainable project in the Makwanpur District evolved from a three-year pilot program that we provided grassroots funding for. Today that model is being adopted in Nepal‘s Eastern Province and our team will share their experiences and palliative care expertise with the local team establishing this rural initiative.
The Nepal National Palliative Care Strategy that Two Worlds Cancer helped facilitate remains a map and guide for the palliative care services being developed and provided both in the cities and villages in Nepal as care capacity builds.
Our partners at Hospice Nepal are getting closer to their goal of starting construction of the new 24-bed hospice facility that will include a five-bed children‘s palliative care unit. A Nepal charitable organization in London, UK raised £250,000 towards the project and additional fundraising galas in the UK and New Zealand will take place this year.
Sunflower Children‘s Network – Ongoing collaborations and new relationships
The Sunflower Children‘s Network is collaborating with McGill University (Canada) to evaluate the economic impact of children‘s palliative care in Bangladesh. Our Network is helping connect organizations through shared interests – the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University team in Dhaka, Bangladesh is partnering with the Umduduzi Program in Durban, South Africa to share mutual knowledge and experiences with both their children‘s palliative home care programs. Through our Network, the University of Ottawa (Canada) is partnering with National Children‘s Hospital (Philippines) for a Medical Education short course. And our network‘s latest collaboration is with St. Jude Children‘s Research Hospital – a leading international pediatric clinical, teaching and research hospital in the United States.
St. Mary‘s Hospital expands its outreach program
Photo courtesy St. Mary's Hospital
Since 2010, Two Worlds Cancer has supported the rural hospital in Malur, Karnataka – 45 km from Bengaluru, India. Last year, St. Mary‘s Hospital expanded the reach of their home-based, palliative care program providing care in 11 villages.
The committed healthcare team includes palliative care doctors and nurses, a physiotherapist and community health workers providing care in the community along with hospital-based care including a maternity ward and operating theatre.
Sri Lanka looks to build pediatric palliative care capacity
Amid the ongoing social and economic crisis in Sri Lanka, a group of pediatric and palliative care physicians from Colombo met virtually with our partners from the Hyderabad Centre for Palliative Care and our Sunflower Children‘s Network leadership to discuss the current state of palliative care and future collaborations to address the urgent need for increased care capacity.
Our volunteers are the heart of our organization
The New Year is upon us and as with the past two years, it will be challenging. In these difficult economic times we will depend more heavily on our donors to continue the support so generously provided in the past. We look forward to your continued support and commitment to our vision and mission as we help build compassionate care in South and Southeast Asia.
It has been a good start to 2023 and we look forward to sharing more updates via INSIGHTS each quarter. Please take the time to read about the impact of your donations in Reportage 2022
And please consider a donation today or become a Compassionate Partner by joining our monthly donors.
On behalf of the Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration team, thank you for your generous and continuing support!
Sincerely,
Dr. Simon Sutcliffe
President, Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration