Palliative care is only as strong as the health workforce delivering it. APCA works with governments, training institutions and health professional bodies across Africa to build a skilled, sustainable palliative care workforce at every level of the health system, from community volunteers to specialist clinicians.
Our training programmes focus on:
- Integrating palliative care into pre-service curricula for nurses, clinical officers and doctors
- Providing in-service training and mentorship for practising health workers
- Building the capacity of community volunteers and lay carers who support patients at home
- Supporting advanced study opportunities, including diploma, degree and master's level training in palliative care
- Training and licensing health workers to prescribe oral morphine and other essential pain-relieving medicines
- Strengthening psychosocial and spiritual care skills through dedicated training and team-building
Between 2011 and 2020, APCA supported 119 health care providers to pursue diploma and degree-level study in palliative care, trained 252 community volunteers, 2,410 in-service and 660 pre-service health workers, supported seven professionals through master's degrees, and trained over 500 health workers as legal prescribers of oral morphine.
Looking ahead, APCA continues to strengthen health workforce capacity as a core pillar of its 2020-2030 Strategic Plan, working with education institutions and health authorities to ensure palliative care training is embedded in national health workforce development plans across the region.