International Palliative Care Conference to Be Held in Hong Kong

The 1999 Asia Pacific Hospice Conference, “New Horizons in Hospice Care,” will take place in Hong Kong on June 2-4, 1999. An estimated 600 attendees are expected.

The conference will address the future of palliative care in the next millenium. An international panel of 18 speakers will address the conference, including four keynote speakers from the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands, countries in the vanguard of hospice and palliative care.

Speakers and Topics

Dr. Kathleen Foley, one of the world’s leading experts on pain, will speak on “Recent Advances in Cancer Pain Management.” She will also discuss “The Project on Death in America” and run an interactive workshop on difficult pain syndromes. Dr. Foley is attending neurologist in the Pain and Palliative Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and professor of neurology and neuroscience and of clinical pharmacology at Cornell University Medical Center.

Dr. Rob George, senior lecturer in palliative care in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at University College London Medical School and director of the Palliative Care Centre at the Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust, specializes in both community affairs and the management of pain related to cancer, HIV, and AIDS. He will speak on “Future Trends in Palliative Community Care,” discuss needs and assessment, and facilitate an interactive workshop entitled “Human Rights—The HIV Experience.”

Dr. Michael Kearney, consultant in palliative medicine at Our Lady’s Hospice and St. Vincent’s Hospital and lecturer in palliative medicine at University College in Dublin, will address the psychospiritual aspects of palliative care in his speech, “Working with Suffering.” He will also run a workshop on “Working with Dreams in Palliative Care.”

Dr. Margaret Stroebe, an expert in bereavement, will speak on “The Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement,” which will discuss the implications of bereavement for health care professions. Dr. Stroebe is associate professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of Utrecht and senior tutor at the University College of Utrecht.

Dr. Daniel Callahan, an expert on ethical issues, will address the ethics of resource allocation. Dr. Callahan is cofounder and past-president of The Hastings Center in New York, an educational and research organization that examines ethical issues of medicine, biology, and the environment. He currently serves as the center’s director of international programs and senior associate for health policy.

The conference, which will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wanchai, Hong Kong, is organized by the Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care and cosponsored by the World Health Organization, and the Hong Kong Hospital Authority and Department of Health.

For more information, please contact Ms. Alison Findlay, Conference Co-ordinator (telephone: 2230 9121; 2868 1211; fax: 2530 3290; e-mail: sphc@netvigator.com).