INSIGHTS – 2024 Q2
Summer is upon us already and this issue of INSIGHTS has some exciting news from the last few months. Our programs which you generously support are expanding in scope and geography.
TWCC now supports programs in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Philippines and Bhutan. Along with online ECHO education reaching countries in East Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
While in hospice care in Kathmandu Nepal, Thuli has her hair washed and brushed by care aid Manju Giri.
Photo: Narendra Shrestha/Two Worlds Cancer
We recently shared some exciting developments on our social media
It only seems fitting to share them here, also. Earlier this month, Dr. Megan Doherty was appointed as the palliative care consultant for the World Health Organization in Switzerland.
Her role with the WHO Integrated Health Services in Geneva will focus on developing palliative care training to support the development and integration of palliative care services for countries where this compassionate care is not readily accessible.
We wish Dr. Doherty all the best in this important global role and are thrilled that she will remain an integral part of TWCC as she has been since 2017, helping create, sustain and grow our Sunflower Children’s Network.
And on that note, Dr. Spandana Rayala has been appointed Associate Director of our Sunflower Children’s Network.
Dr. Rayala is a palliative care consultant at Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital and Bayt Abdullah Children's Hospice. She is from Hyderabad, India and did her pediatric palliative care fellowship at MNJ Institute supported by TWCC in 2016-2017. Dr. Rayala worked as a pediatric palliative care consultant at MNJ Institute and with the Pain Relief and Palliative Care Society (PRPCS) supporting hospital, neonatal ICU, hospice, and home-based palliative, and end-of-life care.
After her fellowship she remained involved with TWCC as the Education Lead for the Sunflower Children’s Network helping develop online education, supporting ECHO sessions, and mentoring the hybrid fellowships offered in collaboration with PRPCS and Hyderabad Centre for Palliative Care.
“I am excited to be the new Associate Director of the Sunflower Children’s Network. At the same time, I am very aware of the high standards of the organization in terms of equity, encouragement, and empowerment that inspired me in the first place,” Dr. Rayala says.
News from Nepal
Providing the opportunity for emerging healthcare leaders to further their training has been a focus of how TWCC helps build and sustain palliative and health care capacities.
After completing his medical training at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan, Nepal, Dr. Shuvam Kumar Agrawal was recently sponsored by TWCC to pursue further training in pain and palliative medicine at MNJ Institute in Hyderabad, India and at Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, Nepal.
Dr. Agrawal (at left at desk) is taking a lead role in building his region’s palliative care capacity in eastern Nepal.
“I am inspired and constantly striving to innovate and expand our efforts, reach ,and impact through innovative approaches to healthcare delivery. Whether it's leveraging technology to enhance telemedicine services, delivering healthcare at doorsteps or forging partnerships with stakeholders to strengthen community health systems,” he says.
Join us again at London Global Cancer Week 20024
Co-hosted with the Hyderabad Centre for Palliative Care, we are presenting 'Achieving population-based palliative care: Learnings from Telangana, India' on November 13.
Join the webinar to learn how the state of Telangana, in India, moved from an absence of palliative care in the early 2000s to an internationally recognized palliative care program serving 38 million people in 33 administrative districts across the state.
Dr. Gillian Fyles (TWCC Director) will host panelists Dr. Gayatri Palat (Director, Hyderabad Centre for Palliative Care; Professor of Palliative Medicine, MNJ Institute; and former Don Rix Professor of Palliative Medicine), Swarup Immaraju (Nursing Superintendent, Pain Relief and Palliative Care Society), and Vineela Rapelli, (Administrative Manager, Pain Relief and Palliative Care Society)
To register for the event LGCW2024
Meet our Team
Read our Q&A with Camara van Breemen who has volunteered with TWCC since 2018. And he has served as a TWCC Director for the past four years. Camara is a Nurse practitioner and Enhanced Community Care Lead at Canucks Place Children’s Hospice in Vancouver, Canada.
“We help one child when we can. The one who's in front of us,” Camara says, reflecting on an experience while visiting a young child with the Palliative Care Team at National Children's Hospital in the Philippines.
TWCC and Partners in the Media
Published digitally and in print in the Globe and Mail‘s Philanthropy in Canada section features Camara van Breemen in her role at Canuck Place Children‘s Hospice.
Read the feature Here
TWCC Director and Nepal co-lead, Dr. Robin Love was featured in the local news in his community when he received the 2024 Lifetime Achievement award from the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians.
Read the feature Here
New Ways to Give
What we do is not possible without your belief in our vision and your generous donations.
We have introduced some new Ways to give on our website twoworldscancer.ca. Please have a look and consider making any donation that you can – Every little bit helps.
We wish you a good summer and look forward to sharing more INSIGHTS in the fall.
With thanks from the TWCC Team,
Dr. Simon Sutcliffe
President, Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration
P.S. Please join us on social media
Every follow, like and share helps amplify what we do and raises awareness of the need for equitable and accessible health and palliative care.
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