Deadline: January 20, 2012

Application are now being taken for the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) Early Career Research Grants.

• As many as TEN (10) grants available.
• Up to US$20,000 each.
• To support researchers in the early career stage of pain investigations.

Apply now to be considered for valuable funding that could help you with your research.

Who’s Eligible?

• Awards are available to IASP members
• conducting independent research within six (6) years of their final terminal degree.
• For complete award information, eligibility requirements, and application instructions, visit the IASP website…

If you have any questions, please contact IASP at: IASPdesk@iasp-pain.org

The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) is now accepting poster abstracts to be considered for presentation at the 14th World Congress on Pain to be held at the Milan Convention Centre, August 27-31, 2012.

Individuals can access the Call for Abstracts and submission guidelines on the Congress website: www.iasp-pain.org/Milan

To be considered, each abstract must be:

• sponsored by an IASP member,
• presented in English – the official language of the Congress, and
• submitted via our online submission system.

Deadline for submission: February 6, 2012

Financial Aid Available!

Financial aid is available to applicants from developing or currency-restricted countries and trainees from developed countries. IASP strongly encourage applicants to submit an abstract to the Congress.

Visit the website for full information, financial aid guidelines and to submit your online application:

www.iasp-pain.org/Milan

An Initiative for Improving Pain Education

Apply now for grant applications for the IASP Developing Countries Project: Initiative for Improving Pain Education.

These educational support grants address the need for essential and improved education about pain and its treatment in developing countries, for members of all health-care disciplines, taking into account specific local needs. Multiple grants are available, each for up to US$10,000.

Who is Eligible?

• Members of IASP for at least one year.
• The principal organizer must be based in a developing country – see the list of eligible countries

Application Deadline: February 15, 2012

Find complete award information, eligibility requirements, and application instructions on the IASP website:

www.iasp-pain.org/Grants/DCProject

As many as seven grants of up to US$20,000 each will support researchers in the early career stage of pain investigations.

Who is Eligible?

• IASP members.
• Within 6 years of having received their final degree.
• Carrying out independent research.
• In addition, applicants should not be recipients of a major official grant funding (such as NIH, EEC or APS)

Application Deadline: January 20, 2012

Find complete award information, eligibility requirements, and application instructions on the IASP website:

www.iasp-pain.org/Grants/EarlyCareer

OK, the problem is visible now. What are we going to do about it?

We’ll be posting the latest films from the project on the blog as they are released. You can also follow DEATH on Facebook(!)

LIFE Before Death: Live Well, Die Better.

One in every ten people alive today will die in severe pain because the cheap medicine they need is derived from opium, perhaps the most controversial and controlled substance on Earth.

LIFE Before Death is a documentary project about the remarkable health professionals battling the sweeping epidemic of pain that threatens to condemn one in every ten of us to an agonizing and shameful death. Their tireless struggle pits them against unfeeling governments, dysfunctional bureaucracies, voracious corporations, over-zealous law enforcement agencies and, above all, the deep-seated attitudes of you and I.

Through the eyes of patients and their families we discover the inherent humanity that empowers the best of us to care for those beyond cure. We uncover hard truths about the torture occurring everyday in hospitals around the world but also of the immense hope that comes from those health care pioneers brave enough to accompany terminal patients on their inevitable journeys to gratifying end-of-life experiences filled with dignity, love and peace. This is a story of living well and dying better, making the most of every moment in our life before death.

Read more at www.LIFEbeforedeath.com

Watch these two powerful teasers of what you can expect from the 50-video series, which include scenes and interviews with Pallium India:

Download the Guide...

The Guide to Pain Management in Low Resource Settings from the IASP Press (International Association for the Study of Pain) is now available as a free download.

The guide is edited by Andreas Kopf and Nilesh B Patel, with multi-specialty, multinational authors.

Download the guide here… (PDF)

Happy reading!

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The editors would value your feedback on the Guide, please take a moment to answer a short survey…

Should it not be?

This was one of the major points discussed during a meeting organized by the International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations (IFHHRO) in Amsterdam on 20-21 January 2011, with support from the Open Society Foundations.

Taking part were World leaders from Human Rights Organisations:

• Dr Adriaan van Es – President, IFHHRO
• Professor Cees Flinterman – Member, UN Human Rights Committee
• Diederik Lohman – Human Rights Watch

Dr Kathleen Foley & Dr Liliana De Lima in Amsterdam

and from the Pain and Palliative Care field:

• Dr Kathleen Foley – Memorial Sloane Kettering Institute
• Mary Callaway – Open Society Foundations ["Health Care Without the Pain"]
• Dr Liliana De Lima – IAHPC
• Dr Michael Cousins – IASP

How much of access to pain relief and palliative care can be considered a basic right in the developing world? It would be no use bringing in unrealistic norms which cannot be achieved!

The group unanimously agreed that while the degree of care would be dependent on availability of resources, there would be some minimum standards that any country can and should provide. Like immediate release oral morphine.

The group worked on the draft of a declaration, that should take final shape in the next few weeks.

Please Sign the Declaration of Montréal

The International Association for Study of Pain (IASP) had organized a “Global Pain Summit” on 3 October 2010 at Montreal, Canada. The chairman of Pallium India was a member of its steering committee.

The summit had announced “The Montreal Declaration“, which has now been accepted by the IASP council. Essentially, the document declares access to pain relief as a human right, and spells out the components of that right.

You can view the declaration at the IASP website and sign the declaration either as an individual or on behalf of an organization.

Please support the cause by signing it.

It will take only a minute of your time!

Sir Michael Bond, chairman of the developing countries’ working group of IASP presented the award at the 13th World Congress on Pain in Montréal, Canada. The congress was attended by more than 6,500 delegates.

M'Michèle performs at the Congress Welcome Reception

What do Goa & Guatemala Have in Common?

The natural beauty of the land of course. But apart from that?

They share the pain and sorrow of man-made suffering in the face of disease.

Liliana DeLima, the executive director of IAHPC (www.hospicecare.com) writes about the “archaic restrictive laws” in Guatemala that prevented access to pain relief even in the face of a disease like advanced cancer. It almost reads like a horror story.

1. A representative of the National Competent Authority has to carry out visual inspections to ALL patients who are prescribed opioids. During this visit, the government representative verifies if the patients is really sick, verifies the amount prescribed, the amount dispensed and the amount taken by the patient to supposedly certify that no diversion has occured.
2. All physicians who prescribe need to submit monthly reports to the MOH with the names of the patients they prescribed opioids for, the diagnosis, the total amount in the month, the dates of prescription, the quantity and the formulation.
3. Patients who need opioids HAVE to travel to the capital to get their prescription stamped and approved by the NCA office – regardless of where in the country they are located. They have to travel each time with their prescription, get it stamped (confirmed as legal by the NCA) and then they can go to a pharmacy to buy it.

Fortunately, things have changed for the better in Guatemala very recently, and some of the restrictions have removed. But we have not done so well in Goa, the tiny beautiful coastal state in India.

In 1998, the Government of India asked all Indian states to simplify their narcotic regulations following a model structure. Goa is one of the 14 which did. But Goa effectively thwarted the purpose of the amendment by bringing in new barriers. The Goan with advanced cancer is forced to take every prescription to the Directorate and “apply” for a permit. He can buy the drug only when the permit is issued!

Good News from Vienna

The United Nations’ Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) met last week in Vienna.

Thanks to advocacy by several agencies, most noticeably Human Rights Watch, the commission has recognised that its role is not only to control narcotic drugs but also to ensure its availability for medical purposes.

Human Rights Watch conducted a side-event promoting the global need for opioids for pain relief which was attended by several organizations including PPSG and the Access to Control program of WHO and about 70 CND delegates from all over the world. HRW statements: Day 3: statement to the plenary & Day 4: supply reduction plenary

At the CND meeting, Mr Costa from UNODC highlighted [PDF] the need for improvement in opioid availability for pain relief.

The week long meeting passed a resolution “Promoting adequate availability of internationally controlled licit drugs for medical and scientific purposes while preventing their diversion and abuse.” [PDF]

We are sure it will be a powerful tool in our advocacy for pain relief.

News from the Opioid Availability Front

We have been blessed for a long time by strong support from the Department of Revenue and from the Narcotics Commissioner (and many other authorities) of the Government of India. The new desk calendar produced by the Narcotics Commissioner of India attracted international attention during the CND meeting at Vienna. It carries a slogan “Opium for Pain and Palliative Care”. Congratulations and thank you, Mrs Jagjit Pavadia!

So far in India, manufacturing of opiumand morphine from poppy has been the monopoly of the Government of India. In recent years, there has been a move to privatize this. We had a concern that this would steeply increase the cost of morphine. We now learn that the process of privatization has been delayed. The two firms which had initially come forward seem to have backed out. While the Government is still proceeding with the decision to privatize, it may take some considerable time to materialize.

Prestigious Award to Kathleen Foley

The Global Palliative care community rejoices the decision of the International Association for Study of Pain (IASP) that its John D. Loeser Distinguished Lecture Award goes to Dr Kathleen Foley. Dr Foley is an attending neurologist in the Pain and Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

In IASP’s words,

the award recognizes work that gives new perspectives to understanding the experiences of pain and that opens the door to future reductions in suffering…

She is professor of Neurology, Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and holds the chair of the Society of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Pain Research. All that is how she is described in IASP’s newsletter. Let us provide our own six-word description of Kathy Foley:

She knows. She understands. She cares!

Congratulations, Kathy, and thank you for all that you are doing for this world.

Watch Dr Foley’s lecture “Pain and Palliative Care: What the Future Holds”

Annual Conference of IAPC at Lucknow

Mr Piyush Gupta of Cancer Aid Society, the organizing secretary of the next conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) at Lucknow (U.P) on 11-13 February 2011 invites you to visit the conference website www.iapcon2011.com and to save money by availing the facility of early bird registration.

Last date Extended for Pallcare India Project

Pallium India has invited applications from cancer centers and Medical Colleges in North and North-East India for a project funded by Savitri Waney Trust, Farida &Yusuf Hamied Foundation and Bruce Davis Trust.

Please note that the last date for receipt of applications has been extended to 30 March 2010.

For details, see http://palliumindia.org/projects/pallcare

Leadership Development Initiative (LDI) at San Diego

San Diego Hospice and Open Society Institute together organized a Leadership Development Course for Palliative Care professionals from 15 different countries at San Diego, California.

Dr Priya Kulkarni from Cipla Hospice, one of the doctors who attended the course (the others from India were Dr Gayatri Palat and Dr Anil Paleri) writes about her experience.

We had the opportunity to learn from eminent teachers like Dr Frank Ferris, Dr Charles Von Gunten, Dr Kathy Foley, Dr Mary Callway, Dr Liliana De Lima and Dr Joe Harford.

A few of the things that I learnt from this course:

• Leadership may be by chance or by choice
• Identifying different personality types helps in dealing with team members as required.
• SWOT analysis (Strengths – Weaknesses-Opportunities – Threats) permits self analysis at depth.
• Developing a plan for individual development was thought provoking.
• Presentations related to Situation analysis from different countries and different individuals identified the similarities as well as country-specific problems.
• Presence of a Theatre and Drama person during the course helped us to make conscious efforts to learn presentation skills.

All the arrangements were excellent. It looked like a perfect team, all members performing in perfect synchronization with each other.

The Olbermann Videos

The ugly face of politics can distort any truth. In the recent American controversy which culminated at Blair House on the 25th of February 2010, palliative care services came to be called “death panels”!

You must watch Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown” at MSNBC where he describes his father’s experience in a hospital and proclaims that palliative care is indeed a “life panel”!

Please visit our blog and you will be able to watch the Keith Olbermann videos:

• An American Cry for Help
• Respecting Pain & Patient

Sadly, Mr Olbermann Sr passed away last weekend, read Keith’s tribute here…

Dignity and the Essence of Medicine

Olbermann’s description of his father’s experience brings to mind the following quote from Chochinov (BMJ.2007.335; 184-7):

“Treating a patient’s severe arthritis and not knowing their core identity as a musician; providing care to a woman with metastatic breast cancer and not knowing she is the sole carer for two young children; attempting to support a dying patient and not knowing he or she is devoutly religious — each of these scenarios is equivalent to attempting to operate in the dark.”