Anastasia Gulyavina, Chief Strategic Officer, PACED (Moderator) PACED Foundation is a British organisation that promotes the improvement and accessibility of palliative care through education, training, and development of palliative care professionals in regions of interest. Currently, these regions include Central Asia, the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and the Baltic States.
Almost a year ago, we launched a series of thematic webinars on the state of palliative care in various countries within our sphere of influence. It turned out that most specialists, speakers, and experts currently within our network are focused on paediatric palliative care. Therefore, as a summarising event, we decided to hold a roundtable discussion to address issues, challenges, and potential points of collaboration within the professional community that could contribute to the development of paediatric palliative care at a regional or national level. I am delighted that thirteen speakers from over six countries have joined this roundtable. Today, we have a special guest representing an entire community of paediatric palliative care specialists.
I am pleased to introduce our experts for today. Let’s start with our colleagues from Uzbekistan. Today with us are
Rustam Norbaev, head of the children’s hospice "Taskin" and
Nodir Rakhimov, director of the Samarkand Regional Interregional Hospice.
Our colleagues from Armenia, you can find our
interview with them on our website, are
Narine Movsesyan, an anesthesiologist, lecturer at the Yerevan State Medical University, palliative care and pain management specialist, and an international leader of the Palliative Care Leadership Development Initiative. Narine’s colleague from Armenia is
Anush Sargsyan, a paediatric rehabilitation specialist and Head of the paediatric palliative care department at the Hematology Center named after Prof. Yeolyan.
Colleagues from Latvia are
Anda Jansone, founder of paediatric palliative care in Latvia, chairperson of the board of the Children’s Palliative Care Society, head of the Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Pediatric Palliative Care Service, and an international expert with the ICPCN.
Julia Cirule-Galuza, head of the Liepaja Children's Palliative Care Service at the Liepaja Regional Hospital.
Our colleagues from Belarus:
Anna Gorchakova, director of the Charity Children’s Hospice, head of the palliative medicine course at BelMAPO, and
Olga Skorbenko, chairperson of the board of the Public Association of Parents of Premature Babies "Rano".
Experts from Georgia:
Irakli Vetsko, director of the children's hospice "Firefly World". You can read a separate
interview with Irakli on our website. Nino Kiknadze, founder of the children’s hospice "Firefly World".
Finally, our colleagues from Kazakhstan are
Yulia Streletskaya, an anesthesiologist-resuscitator and head of the Centre for Respiratory Support, Palliative Care and Rehabilitation of the Public Foundation "Өмірге сен", and
Nurila Maltabarova, head of the department of paediatric anesthesiology, intensive care, and emergency care at Astana Medical University, chief freelance paediatric anesthesiologist-resuscitator, and coordinator of palliative medical care for the public health department of Astana.
Our special guest is
Professor Julia Downing, Executive Director of the International Children’s Palliative Care Network.
We have four questions prepared for discussion today. Each country, each group of experts will be able to share their perspective on each question. We will start with a general question to ensure everyone is on the same page, at least concerning the region represented here today. Here is the first question.