June 2024 news from Ethiopia

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Hospice Ethiopia UK’s Chair Sue Mumford has monthly online calls with Director of Hospice Ethiopia UK, Ephrem Abathun. Here is some of the latest news from Ethiopia:

  • Ephrem has been in discussions with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health about revising and publishing a new strategic plan for Palliative Care in Ethiopia. Crucially the provision of morphine is included for the first time in the revised plan.
  • The Minister of Health has now issued the necessary documents for the Black Lion Hospital to import morphine powder to produce oral morphine liquid. The American Cancer Society has purchased the morphine powder so we are optimistic that oral morphine solution will soon be available to relieve the pain for the dying in Ethiopia. Initially this medicine will be available for patients at Black Lion Hospital before being expanded to other hospitals in Addis Adaba and then to regional hospitals across the country.
Ephrem teaching a family to administer oral morphine solution to a patient. Photo taken in 2016, when oral morphine was still available in Ethiopia.
  • Training: Ephrem and his staff laid on a workshop for Chaplains and representatives from the Christian Orthodox, Protestant and Muslim communities. Following this a draft training manual is being produced for training religious leaders in supporting terminally ill patients. As part of this work some of Hospice Ethiopia’s patients were questioned about what spiritual care they felt is needed when approaching the end of life. All this will help deliver the individualised care that people approaching the end of life deserve.
  • Following a joint application between Hospice Ethiopia and Hospice Ethiopia UK, True Colours Trust (a UK charity that supports palliative care providers across Africa) is providing funding for a 4 day palliative care training course at Hiwot Fana Hospital in Harar later this month. Harar is a holy Islamic city in eastern Ethiopia and is known for its maze-like alleys and traditional houses decorated inside with flat baskets.
  • Hospice Ethiopia UK and Hospice Ethiopia has recently been approached by Dr Yates from Soddo Christian Hospital (situated in the Oromia part of Southern Ethiopia) to provide palliative care training for their staff. The hospital serves a population of over 20 million people. Planning is in the early stages for this training to be delivered in the autumn when some of HEUK’s trustees will be visiting Ethiopia.

Doctor receives palliative care training funded by HE UK

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Money raised by Hospice Ethiopia UK has been used to fund training for a doctor based in Southern Ethiopia, Dr Juhliad. His interest in palliative care started in 2019 when he received a three day introduction to palliative care at The Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa, delivered by Hospice Ethiopia’s Director, Ephrem. Dr Juhliad now works at Yabelo Hospital which is a town in the Oromia region, 580km south of Addis Ababa. Here he sees patients who desperately need symptom management and end-of-life care. With our help this year he has completed the foundation course in palliative medicine at Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences and is now attending a Master Class course that will go on until December 2024. He will go to India for ‘hands-on’ clinical training in November 2024 as part of the course. This is what he told us:

“The hospital where I am based now doesn’t have a specific place dedicated to patients needing palliative care. And it seems difficult to persuade the hospital administrators to integrate palliative care services for now. But I am trying to integrate palliative care practice into my daily routine for patients who might be candidates for such services at a chronic disease medical outpatient department. Moreover, I am intending to launch a free telehealth service for patients needing palliative care through my social media platforms…I am also interested in providing webinars on palliative care for frontline healthcare workers.”

Trustee visit to Hospice Ethiopia

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Sue and Jamie Mumford have just returned from a very productive trip to Ethiopia. This is what they had to say about their trip:

“We have just returned from nearly 3 weeks in Ethiopia. We have visited every year since we started supporting Hospice Ethiopia 11 years ago (except from in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic). We spent time with the staff of Hospice Ethiopia visiting their patients and reviewing how the money we transferred to them last year (£55,682) was spent as well as consulting on their budget plan for 2023. These discussions are really important for Hospice Ethiopia UK to understand the successes and challenges that the hospice faces.

We enjoyed a 2 day visit to Jimma University Medical Center (south western Ethiopia) where a new palliative care (care for people with life-limiting illnesses) department has been established following training given by Hospice Ethiopia 10 months ago. We were impressed by the team who are already providing comprehensive inpatient, outpatient, and home care. For those patients living outside Jimma they provide a telephone follow up service. We were privileged to have a meeting with Dr Fetiya (who is clinical director of this 800 bed hospital serving a catchment of 15 million population) where we discussed the ongoing problems with obtaining oral morphine for controlling pain. At present Tramadol is the strongest pain killer available, this means many of their patients do not have their pain adequately controlled (see photo below of Sue and Jamie with the team at Jimma).

The second week of our visit we travelled to Debark in north western Ethiopia to help deliver a 5 day palliative care course. This is the first time such training has been delivered in a very rural area. Many of the villages can only be accessed on foot or on a mule which presents additional challenges. Some of the 19 delegates had not heard of palliative care but by the end of the week they could see the huge need for this type of care when less than 1% of patients receive curative treatment for cancer. Hospice Ethiopia will provide mentorship to help with the implantation of palliative care in the hospital and health centres.

It was inspiring to see the impact that Hospice Ethiopia is now having on the expanding provision of palliative care in Ethiopia. With an estimated population of 120 million, there is still a long way to go but it is highly rewarding to know that Hospice Ethiopia UK is making a difference for those who suffer so much as they approach the end of their life. We are grateful to all our donors that enable us to continue to support Hospice Ethiopia. The trustees do not claim any expenses for their visits to Ethiopia, so every penny donated goes to where it’s desperately needed.”

Welcome to Dr Fredrika Collins

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Hospice Ethiopia is delighted to be welcoming Dr Fredrika Collins to work as a volunteer for the next few months. Before she leaves the England’s shores, she is raising money for the Hospice by swimming between the 2 piers at Brighton – a distance of about 1km. Please support this valiant effort by donating via JustGiving.

Fredrika is an internal medicine trainee in Brighton, exploring a career in palliative care. In September 2022 she is moving to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to work for a year as a teaching fellow within the internal medicine department of Addis Ababa University. During this time she will also be volunteering for Hospice Ethiopia, by working clinically in their Day Care, Outpatients, and Home care programmes and assisting with education and training.

She completed her undergraduate medical degree at King’s College London, and foundation training at Croydon University Hospital. Between 2019-2020 she worked as a research assistant in Peru on a trial investigating the health benefits of clean cooking gas, before moving to Brighton to commence her internal medicine training.

She is particularly interested in the role of healthcare professionals in tackling local health inequalities, and set up the Health Education England approved ‘The Global Health Series’ in 2018, which continues to run at several trusts across London and the Southeast.

update on the big give christmas challenge 2020

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Ephrem teaching palliative care in Ethiopia

Many of our supporters generously donated to our Big Give Project last December. £9,500 was raised to design a standardised palliative care training course that could be delivered across Ethiopia to a range of Health Care Professionals.

We started our project early in January 2021 but nonetheless have not been able to complete the project yet due to the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing difficult political situation in Ethiopia.

Ephrem Abathun (Director of Hospice Ethiopia) has worked with the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and other stake holders to design the palliative care course and accompanying course material. This has been formally approved by the FMOH.

The training manual and accompanying material has now been printed. A zoom meeting is planned between Hospice Ethiopia, Hospice Ethiopia UK, and Palliative Care Works to take the project further.

 A pilot course is scheduled to be run in December 2021. Staff from the Simien Mountain Mobile Medical service will attend a 6 day course in Debark. It is hoped 2 trustees from Hospice Ethiopia UK will assist nurses from Hospice Ethiopia in delivering this training.

Following the pilot course, both the trainers and delegates will evaluate the course and adaptions will be  made accordingly, with help from the English charity, Palliative Care Works.

Many thanks again for your generous donations.

Aylsham Rotary club donation

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Aylsham Rotary club has raised an amazing £3000 to pay for Yohanna, a nurse at Hospice Ethiopia, to go to Hospice Africa Uganda in Kampala to study for her diploma in Palliative care.

Yohanna has said the following about this fantastic opportunity:

“My role as a palliative care nurse is to take greater responsibility for patient care and to become a specialist in areas such as pain management, symptom management and psychosocial support. In studying this diploma course in palliative care nursing, I hope that l will be able to make the most of these opportunities as my career develops. I anticipate that this diploma course in palliative care nursing will be the beginning of my lifelong career that will really make a difference in Hospice Ethiopia.”

Sue and Jamie attended a Rotary Club dinner in Aylsham at the Old Forge where Sue was able to update the members and guests about Hospice Ethiopia.

mum rotary talk

 

 

January update

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We’ve just had the quarterly report (for October-December 2017) from Hospice Ethiopia director, Ephrem.  We were thrilled to read that following a visit to HE towards the end of last year,  Ethiopiaid (based in Bath, UK) has given them £28,600! More about Ethiopiaid can be found on their website: http://ethiopiaid.org.uk/

Ephrem has been awarded a bursary and confirmed that he will come to the UK (visa permitting) for a leadership  management course at the St Christopher’s Hospice from 15th-19th October. We are also hoping to arrange a clinical placement at Priscilla Bacon Lodge, Norwich for the week preceding the course Oct 6th-14th.

Spring 2017 Update Talk

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Come and hear about the extraordinary work that your help is funding.

An illustrated talk by Sue Mumford (palliative care nurse) and Dr Jamie Mumford (GP).

Monday 8th May, 5.30 for 6.00pm
Priscilla Bacon Lodge, Colman Hospital,
Unthank Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 2PJ

It’s not just about direct action: even more important is the training of doctors, nurses and medics in palliative care (care for the dying), a specialty that is little understood and not yet taught in medical schools in Ethiopia.

Sue and Jamie will also talk about their trip to Hospice Africa in Uganda, the flagship hospice for sub-Saharan palliative care, where they stayed with the Nobel Prize nominee Professor Anne Merriman.

Entry is free but, of course, we hope you will be able to give us a donation.

There will be teas, cakes and a raffle.

More information: Sue and Jamie Mumford (01263 768699) or Wendy Smith at Priscilla Bacon Lodge (01603 255720) or email susan.mumford@hotmail.co.uk

Palliative care course at the Alert Hospital, Addis Ababa

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Photo of attendees at a week’s palliative care course that Sue and Jamie Mumford ran at the Alert Hospital, Addis Ababa in March 2017. 20 doctors and nurses working in anaesthetics and emergency care received training in the ethos of palliative care, pain, and symptom control including prescribing morphine and communication skills. It is important that these health care practitioners know about palliative care to prevent patients receiving inappropriate, expensive, and invasive procedures when they are nearing the end of life. The course seemed to go down well with some great discussions. The evaluations were very enthusiastic and many requested further training for their departments and colleagues across Ethiopia.

“Sue, Jamie & Nicola. You are so special. Your learning styles, materials that you used all are interesting, so please continue this work to all over the country.”

 

The course was jointly funded by Aylsham Rotary Club and Hospice Ethiopia UK.