Home » Kenya Observes World Hospice and Palliative Care Day with Film Screening of “WIT”
Kenya joined 80 other countries around the world to observe the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day on 8 October 2011. The Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA) celebrated the day by showing a screenplay titled “WIT”. The film tells the story of Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson), a 48-year-old university professor, whose life is turned upside down when she is diagnosed with meta-static Stage IV ovarian cancer.
The storyline portrays how as she grows increasingly ill, Vivian agrees to undergo more tests and experimental treatments, even though she realized the doctors treating her see her less as someone to save and more as a guinea pig for their treatments. The only person who seems to care for her as a person is one of the nurses. As Vivian nears the end of her life, she learns that human compassion is more profound importance than intellectual wit.
This indeed has also been observed in two recent studies: Needless Pain by Human Rights Watch, and Costing of Palliative Care by GIZ, that Palliative Care should be seen more from a human rights perspective and thereby, increasing public awareness and campaign to help people better appreciate the role of palliative care.
The event was also an opportunity for Kenya to celebrate the achievements of palliative care service providers across Kenya and create awareness for the need to scale up palliative care services in Kenya.
Kenya has in recent times made strides towards improving palliative care. The Ministry of Public Helath and Sanitation and the Ministry of Medical Services have for exampled developed its first National Cancer Control Strategy (2011 -16). KEHPCA has also received a directive from the Ministry of Medical Services to integrate palliative care into 11 government hospitals and held its first training on paediatric palliative care in Kenya from 29 August to 2 September 20011.( http://kehpca.org)
The GIZ Health Sector Programme is working with the Government and the private Sector to support access of all Kenyans to affordable good quality care in the framework of a human rights based approach to healthcare in the country. To inform policy formulation on the treatment of chronic pain of children and adults, GIZ will provide costing data on fiscal implications of universal access to treatment of severe pain in Kenya.
Photo: http://kehpca.org
Leave a Comment