Congratulations: APCA celebrates 20 years
3rd November 2025
In 2025 the African Palliative Care Association celebrates 20 years of advocating for palliative care across Africa. Its triennial conference in Gaborone, Botswana in October was attended by delegates from 40 countries across sub-Saharan Arica and by heads of government and health ministers.
APCA has been partnered with the Cicely Saunders Institute and Cicely Saunders International throughout their existence, beginning with the development of the African Palliative Outcome Scale, through the largest US government Public Health Evaluation and more recently the Global Health and Palliative Care (GHAP) project. This is an NIHR global health group focused on children’s palliative care in Uganda, early integrated adult cancer palliative care in Zimbabwe and palliative rehabilitation in South Africa.
At the conference Professor Richard Harding received an award celebrating this 20 year partnership.
I am delighted and proud to receive this award on behalf of King’s to mark our 20 year research partnership. We have come so far, with so many brilliant African clinicians and scholars having graduated with an MSc or PhD (or both) in palliative care from the Cicely Saunders Institute at King’s and having conducted many primary research studies across child, adult and older person’s care. APCA is a very important partner for us, and together we have a strong track record of impactful research.
Professor Richard Harding, Interim Executive Dean, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care
Nuhamin Gebre, a PhD student within the Faculty, was also recognised by APCA for her PhD research that developed a mobile app to support multi-disciplinary teams in the community to improve access to home-based palliative care.
Nuhamin’s innovation, the DINKNESH mobile app, was among the top three in Africa at APCA’s radical innovations challenge in Botswana this year.
With a population of over 132 million, Ethiopia is the second most populous nation in Africa, with 78% of the population living in rural settings. Coverage and quality care are key challenges in palliative care implementation in Ethiopia.
The DINKNESH mobile app was developed to support primary healthcare teams in Ethiopia to deliver at-home palliative care. The end-users for the app, are equipped with structured assessment and decision support tools, empowering them to become independent palliative care providers.