Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network

20/09/2026

"Does death conclude suffering, or merely change its form?"

In this deeply personal reflection, Dr Chhaya shares the story of Usha — a woman who arrived at end of life carrying the weight of poverty, disability, and a system that too often looks away from those who need it most.

It's not an easy read. But it's an important one — about the dignity that palliative care tries to restore, even in the most broken circumstances, and about what it means to bear witness when no one else will.

📖 Read Dr Chhaya's full reflection:

Does death conclude suffering or merely change its form? Usha came into my life without warning. Not through an oncology clinic or a referral letter, but thro

19/09/2026

"You don't need to block a bed for a patient who only needs catheter care. What is the point of making someone travel all the way from a remote village for this? They will experience discomfort, and their caregivers will lose a day's wage."

This is the logic behind Karnataka's emerging community palliative care model — and it is simpler than it sounds. Frontline workers identify needs. Families and neighbours provide daily support. The health system contributes clinical expertise. And the gram panchayat brings all of it together around the person.

This excellent piece from India Development Review examines how gram panchayats can become the local platform for palliative care — not by replacing clinical systems, but by ensuring no one falls through the gaps between them.

📖 Click the link to read the full article: https://idronline.org/article/health/how-gram-panchayats-can-foster-a-culture-of-palliative-care/

18/09/2026

👀 3 weeks to go! Have you registered for our webinar session?

What role do culture, values and beliefs play in the way we understand and experience palliative care?

In conjunction with World Hospice & Palliative Care Day, join the Cynthia Goh Palliative Care Fellowship (CGF) Batch 2 for a special webinar on “Honoring Cultural Values in Palliative Care.”

This session will explore how palliative care can resonate with different cultural values and worldviews, and how we can meaningfully integrate these perspectives into practice.

🗓 9 October 2026 (Friday)
🕔 5:00–6:00 pm (Singapore Time)
💻 Live on Zoom

🔗 Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/xZP1V38GRGexN4Cxl2G13w

17/09/2026

⏰ LESS THAN 2 WEEKS LEFT! APHN members, there’s still time to strengthen your skills in primary palliative care with the COMPASS online course.

📚 Self-paced & fully online
💡 Practical learning for healthcare professionals
🎁 Special APHN member rate: USD 51.99

📅 Register by 30 September 2026

Don’t miss this member benefit!

👉 https://aphn.org/compass-course-for-aphn-members/

16/09/2026

⏰ 2 weeks left to lock in Super Early Bird rates for !

Join leading voices from across the Asia Pacific and Oceanic regions for four inspiring days of learning, connection, and collaboration. APHC27OPCC brings together professionals, researchers, decision-makers and lived experience voices in from 20–23 April 2027.

Under the theme 'Stronger Together: Humanity at the heart of palliative care,' this conference will inspire meaningful conversations and innovation in care.

Super Early Bird discounted rates close 30 September 2026 — don't wait until they're gone.

👉 Register now: https://aphc27opcc.com/registration/

15/09/2026

At STNM Hospital in Gangtok, Sikkim, a dedicated palliative care clinic already exists. Morphine is available. Staff have been trained.

And yet, Dr Nilima Pradhan's request was simple: one doctor, one nurse, one data entry staff. Because infrastructure without people cannot deliver compassionate care.

This Doctor's Day reflection from a recent Pallium India visit to Sikkim captures something important: the gap between what exists on paper and what is needed on the ground. Regulatory rules that remain unenforced. ASHAs who could transform community palliative care if properly supported. A state that is genuinely committed — and needs partners to match that commitment.

📖 Click the link to read the full article: https://ehospice.com/india_posts/celebrating-doctors-and-advancing-palliative-care-in-sikkim/

14/09/2026

Hospitals handle acute treatment. Long-term care handles daily support. Institutions handle residential care. But who connects the whole journey?

That gap — the feeling that "no one is there to catch you in the middle" — is what Taiwan's emerging co-living care home model is designed to fill. Originating in Japan's Home Hospice movement, the concept brings together home medical care, long-term care, and community companionship in a neighbourhood home, so that people living with serious illness or disability can remain part of everyday life rather than being removed from it 🏠

🔗 Click the link to read the full article: https://www.hospice.org.tw/content/4771

13/09/2026

Kerala's palliative care model is celebrated across the world. And rightfully so.

But there is a chapter it has not yet written.

For children with severe, lifelong neurodevelopmental disabilities, palliative care remains patchy, institution-dependent, and largely inaccessible at the community level. The Kerala High Court has now intervened, calling for a comprehensive state-wide policy.

Dr Sangeetha Suresh of Pallium India describes what families actually face. And a mother who told her care team: "The day my child dies, I will also end my life."

"Sometimes, a simple question — 'Are you okay?' — can open up the other side of the illness that no medical test can reveal."

📖 Click the link below to read the full article.

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12/09/2026

In July, Pallium India and the Azim Premji Foundation brought together Community Health Associates in Bengaluru for a two-day training programme — equipping frontline workers with the skills to recognise serious health-related suffering early, communicate with compassion, provide basic supportive care, and connect families with the services they need.

These are the people who reach patients in their homes, in their communities, before a referral letter is ever written. Strengthening their palliative care knowledge may be one of the most powerful ways to close the access gap.

📖 Click the link to read the full article: https://ehospice.com/india_posts/compassion-starts-in-the-community/

11/09/2026

In 1993, K Suresh Kumar began advocating for palliative care in Kerala. Few knew what it was. Organised services barely existed.

Today, Kerala reaches nearly 60% of people who need palliative care — compared with less than 2% nationally. The state has over 1,750 palliative care units at the grassroots level, run by local governments, civil society organisations, and in a development that is virtually unique globally, political parties.

The model has been replicated across India and beyond. The Institute of Palliative Medicine in Kozhikode now trains participants from around 60 countries, including Japan and Singapore.

For this contribution, Kumar has been awarded the WHO South-East Asia Regional Award for Public Health Champions. A richly deserved recognition for one of palliative care's most important stories.

📖 Click the link below to read the full article.

Discover how Kerala transformed palliative care by integrating community support, making it accessible and sustainable for all patients.