MEETING NOTES

Mike Wargo introduced fellow Rotarian Rose Kiwanuka as our program speaker.  Rose is Uganda’s first nurse in Palliative Care and is the County Director of the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU).  The PCAU partnered with Mike Wargo’s organization, Center for Hospice Care, to promote and support affordable and culturally appropriate care throughout Uganda.  There are currently 500 individuals and 20 organizations involved in supporting this partnership.  The goals are capacity building in all districts of Uganda, which has expanded to 112 districts in 2015.  Also to create advocacy through awareness and information on palliative care services.  But also and more importantly to strengthen the health systems for palliative care sustainability.    The PCAU/CHC partnership is also involved in sponsoring Nurse Prescribers’ education to certify them to administer medications.  In Uganda, there is currently one nurse for every 3,000 people.  In addition, PCAU/CHC has developed Road to Hope for the care of those children orphaned by cancer.  Rose announced that the Rotary Clubs of Kampala and Mbarara have formed a partnership to develop a regional branch of PCAU in Western Uganda to provide a training and education center to be supported by income from student hostels serving university students.