Hospice and palliative care
Restoring peace and dignity.
Our aim. To provide medical, emotional and financial care to those who are destitute and terminally ill so that they can live out their lives with peace and dignity.
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The challenge today
There is only one radiation therapy machine in the whole of Ethiopia. One machine for a population of over 110 million. To this day, awareness of hospice and palliative care is low and access is severely limited, especially outside the cities.
Many people wracked with cancer or HIV don’t know what’s happening to them. The wealthy may go abroad for treatment, but the majority of people die in pain and without dignity.
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The solution you can be part of
We work alongside one of only two non-government palliative care providers in the whole of Ethiopia to improve the quality of life for terminally ill patients and improve nation-wide access to palliative care. Here’s how:
- Providing at-home palliative care, an outpatient clinic for check-ups and a day care centre for social and emotional support
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- Offering grief counselling and financial assistance for family members
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- Training up health professionals in palliative care, pain assessment and long-term pain control
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- Building awareness among the public and policy makers about the existence and importance of palliative care
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See the solution in action
On a home visit with a palliative care patient. The team will come by for regular check-ups to monitor the physical and emotional wellbeing of their patient, plus provide counselling or support where needed to family members.
At the palliative day care centre at Hospice Ethiopia’s HQ in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. Here patients can gather for a warm meal, some TV and the chance the socialise plus, most importantly, take solace in knowing they are not in this alone.
The Hospice Ethiopia team has qualified nurses who can diagnose, treat and prescribe medication, along with provide ongoing pain management – all of which would normally be unaffordable and inaccessible to people in need. Nurses provide care at the palliative day care centre and when visiting the homes of patients.
The first-ever, Ethiopia-wide National Palliative Care Guideline which project partners Hospice Ethiopia helped establish. It's a huge step forward in raising awareness and sharing knowledge in a country that has severely limited services and support for hospice and palliative care.
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The impact you can have
“I have no pain anymore and no fear. I have trust for my family’s future. I have peace.”
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40-year-old, mother of four Azeb had been battling cervical cancer for years. When our project partners found her, she was in severe pain, unable to walk or to sit up, with a maggot infestation at the site of her tumour.
Azeb says the medical and financial help she got from Hospice Ethiopia was enormous: “Before I was in darkness. It is around me still and some days it feels very heavy, but the nurses are here with me and I have trust for my family’s future. I have peace."
As palliative care awareness improves in Ethiopia, you can help reach even more people like Azeb and bring back peace and dignity for those in desperate need.
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Meet your project partners
> Hospice Ethiopia
Hospice Ethiopia is one of only two organisations in Ethiopia providing palliative care for those who are destitute and terminally ill. Along with their patient and family member support, they work to create greater awareness about the existence and benefits of palliative care by training health professionals, encouraging referrals to hospice care from general health clinics and sharing research in palliative care across Ethiopia. Currently operating in Addis Ababa, Hospice Ethiopia plans to expand their much-needed services to the whole of Ethiopia.
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Make your impact
Donate today to help a terminally ill person like Azeb live out their life with peace and dignity.
