The Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association is a national association formed in 2005 to represent all palliative care service providers in Kenya. KEHPCA has advocated extensively for the integration of palliative care into health services in Kenya. KEHPCA's mission is to scale up palliative care services to bridge the very significant gap between those who receive services and those in need. This encompasses addressing issues of accessibility, affordability and quality. KEHPCA advocates for the integration of palliative care for children and adults into health services in Kenya. Alongside treatment for patients with cancer and non-communicable diseases, approximately 27% of Kenyan hospice patients receive palliative care for HIV & AIDs. Today, Kenya has 31 Hospices and Palliative Care Units, who are joined as members of KEHPCA and provide service coverage in 20 of Kenya's 47 counties. KEHPCA has also begun a programme in 2011 to establish palliative care units at 11 Government Level 5 and Provincial Hospitals across the country. Read more... World AIDS day-"Don't forget about palliative care and quality of life"

KEHPCA receives prestigious Red Ribbon Award during WAD celebrations

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01/17 

   

Successes

• Since 2007, KEHPCA has trained over 1,500 Kenyan health care professionals in palliative care.
• KEHPCA has advocated for the integration of palliative care into health care services provided by the government hospitals. So far, 11 provincial and level five hospitals have successfully integrated palliative care and KEHPCA will be working with another 26 hospitals at the district level over the next 2 years to integrate palliative care.
• Through the efforts of KEHPCA's strong advocacy work, the Ministry of Medical Services (Ministry of Health) in Kenya has for the first time created the position of Coordinator for Palliative Care and Pain Relief. This officer is working closely with KEHPCA to ensure that government hospitals will integrate palliative care and pain relief in their services.
• KEHPCA works in partnership to promote and support the five hospices and one palliative care unit in Kenya who provide short courses in palliative care for Health care professionals and non-professionals of up to 5 days.
• Currently, palliative care is incorporated into the medical curriculums of just two universities in Kenya. In 2011 KEHPCA launched Kenya's first national curriculum for palliative care, in partnership with the Ministry of Health. KEHPCA is now co-ordinating the efforts for this to be integrated into the medical, nursing, dental, and pharmacy curricula at 17 institutions of higher learning nation-wide, and is working in close partnership with these institutions to develop a new Higher Diploma in Palliative Care.
• A large scale training and integration programme which will reach 220 health care professionals and 5,000 patients with life limiting illness over 1 year was launched in October 2011.
• KEHPCA is working on advocacy for access to essential and affordable palliative care medicines as a human right–particularly pain relieving analgesics such as Morphine, in partnership with the Global Access to Pain Relief Initiative (GAPRI). This has had some significant successes to date, particularly the government introducing 0% tax on morphine imports, and two additional pharmaceutical companies beginning to stock morphine.
• In 2011 staff from 28 Hospices received a sensitization training which introduced the concept of providing legal support to patients. Four lawyers joined the hospices to explore and discuss ways of empowering patients to know their human and legal rights, understand how the Kenyan Court system works, understand the power of attorney and understand how to make a Will.

Partnerships

• Ministry of Health
• African Palliative Care Association (APCA)
• Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC)
• National Curriculum in Palliative Care for HIV/AIDS, Cancer and other life limiting illnesses
• University of Nairobi
• Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital
• Global Access to Pain Relief Initiative (GAPRI)
• Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK)
• Kenya Cancer Association (KENCASA)
• Help the Hospices
• Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance (WPCA)
• Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV & AIDs (KELIN)
• Open Society Foundation (OSF)
• The True Colours Trust
• Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
• Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Sahara Africa
• Hospice Care Kenya (HCK)
• Hospice of Lancaster County -Pennsylvania , USA
• Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund

Contact

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: +254-020-2729302
Address: PO Box 20854,
House 3, Chaka Court
Argwings Kodhek Road
Nairobi 00202
Kenya