PA32†Family centred health care: a palliative care approach to engage communities to address the burden of hiv in tanzania abstract.

BACKGROUND: Tanzania is one of the countries most devastated by HIV and AIDS in the sub Saharan Africa. The Government of Tanzania has called for a community participation to address the burden of HIV in Tanzania(1) however the uptake of this call has been minimal. This paper intends to describe the role of Palliative Medicine in engaging communities to address burden of HIV in Tanzania. AIM: We aim to improve health outcomes of HIV+ children by engaging families through utilisation of palliative care principles in a low resource setting Method Single child with recurrent illness, multiple social spiritual and psychological problems was purposely selected from a pool of HIV+ children attending a PASADA HIV clinic and was offered care through palliative care approach. An interdisciplinary team of health providers was formed, goals of care were identified and care plan developed. Family members empowered with knowledge and skills to live with a HIV+ child and assigned specific role to ensure the boy's physical, psychological and spiritual needs are met. Through retrospective chart review, clinical meetings, counselling sessions with the child, family and providers information was gathered to enrich our understanding of the process. RESULTS: Goals of care were met: cleared infections, tested for HIV, resumed school, and family unified. Hundreds of children benefited from the experience generated and expansion of the approach was governed by community engagement. CONCLUSION: Families when empowered have much potentials that can reverse sufferings due to diseases through application of Palliative Care Principles in practice. REFERENCE: Tanzania Commission for AIDS. 2008 Annual Report.

OA60†Public health and palliative care mix; a ccpmedicine approach to reverse the overgrowing burden of non-communicable diseases in tanzania.

: Outline of the Talk: The global prevalence of non-communicable diseases has increased persistently affecting developed and developing world. In 2008 alone 14 million premature deaths were reported globally and it is projected to reach 52 million by 2030. Diagnosis of NCDs in many of the developing countries [including Tanzania] is often made late while the disease progression advances leaving a very limited chance for interventions to yield good health outcomes. A recent study [2011] conducted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on NCDs revealed that, around 16% of people admitted in referral hospitals had diabetes, and 88% had hypertension. The CCPmedicine is a community based private organisation that focuses on promoting healthy behaviour practices through prevention of non-communicable diseases in Tanzania by helping communities to take a leading role to promote their own health through health education, early detection of diseases, and facilitates timely disease interventions CCPmedicine approach to Public Health and Palliative Care mix in addressing the burden of NCDs in low resource countries like Tanzania has recently attracted policy makers, and practices to engage and support Palliative Care Services. In this paper we seek to share our experience of working with the private and public sectors to promote palliative care services in Tanzania.