Considering that less than 4% of India’s population has access to even basic pain relief, what would life be like for marginalised populations, particularly the LGBTQI community in low and middle income countries? Every bit of attention that the problem gets in international fora, the better.

Anu Savio Thelly, nursing consultant, has been working closely with a transgender activist Mx Sheethal at Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (MGMCRI), Pondicherry, since 2017. After understanding more about the transgender community and their hardships, she started volunteering for their NGO, SCOHD (Sahodaran Community Oriented Health Development). In 2018, with support from Pallium India, she organised a two-day workshop to understand and address the healthcare needs and problems faced by the community members.

Since then, Anu has been advocating for the healthcare needs of the transgender community. She has also identified some strategies to improve their access to palliative care services which she presented at the National Conference of Hospice UK on 22 November 2022, in her talk titled “Working With Transgender Community in India”.

Thank you, Anu. At Pallium India, we are so used to relying on your expertise for any difficult task, be it creation of a nursing curriculum or preparing guidelines.

Congratulations and thank you for your brilliant presentation at the Hospice UK conference.