Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network

05/09/2026

Surgery for advanced cancer and palliative care have long existed in separate spheres. A new initiative at the National Cancer Centre Singapore is changing that.

Oncordance, launched with $1 million from the Lien Foundation, embeds palliative care into surgical care for advanced cancer patients — from the very first conversation. Nearly 80% of advanced cancer patients have chronic pain, depression, anxiety, or other unmet needs. Yet these are rarely addressed before or after an operation.

The result: surgeons who know what their patients actually want from treatment. Patients who go into surgery with clarity, not just fear. And care that is concordant with what matters most to the person on the operating table.

Expected to benefit 1,000 patients over two years. 🔗 Click the link to read the full article: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/palliative-care-and-surgery-encouraged-for-advanced-cancer-patients-under-new-initiative

04/09/2026

🎵 CALL FOR ENTRIES🎤

APHN and Global Partners in Care are on a mission to reduce preventable suffering — and we want musicians across Asia Pacific and beyond to help us tell that story through song.

This isn't a song about loss. It's an anthem for hope, human connection, and the strength found in caring for one another.

🏆 Champion: USD $2,000 + travel support to Adelaide
🥈 1st Runner-Up: USD $1,000
🥉 2nd Runner-Up: USD $500

The winning entry premieres at APHC27OPCC, Adelaide.

⏳ Submissions close 31 Dec 2026 — don't wait.

👉 Submit your song now: https://aphn.org/aphc27opcc-songwriting-competition/

03/09/2026

Hospice New Zealand welcomes the launch of Mahi Aroha - Carers’ Strategy Action Plan, a new whole-of-government approach to recognising and supporting the estimated 500,000 to 1 million New Zealanders who provide informal or unpaid care to a loved one.

We know the vital role whānau and carers play in supporting people who are seriously ill or approaching the end of life. Their contribution is significant, and ensuring carers themselves are recognised, valued and supported is incredibly important.

Read more about Mahi Aroha and the Government’s plans to better recognise and support unpaid carers: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-roadmap-supporting-unpaid-carers

03/09/2026

02/09/2026

Specialist palliative care cannot reach every child who needs it. But a general paediatrician who knows how to recognise distress, manage symptoms, and talk honestly with a family? That can change everything.

At the 22nd Post Graduate Course of the National Children's Hospital in the Philippines, Dr Lannie Fofue brought that message to a room full of general paediatricians — not to hand off to specialists, but to equip them: to see palliative care needs earlier, to have difficult conversations with confidence, and to understand that when cure is no longer possible, care always remains possible.

🔗Click the link to read the full article: https://ehospice.com/inter_childrens_posts/from-subspecialty-expertise-to-compassionate-everyday-care/

01/09/2026

A new centre has opened its doors in Dhaka with a clear purpose: to make comprehensive cancer and palliative care available at home in Bangladesh, so patients no longer have to travel abroad — often at great personal and financial cost — in search of specialised treatment.

The Bangladesh Cancer and Palliative Care Center (BCPCC), inaugurated in Dhanmondi on 29 August, brings together palliative care alongside cancer services — recognising that managing pain, psychological distress, and quality of life matters alongside any medical treatment.

🔗Click the link to read the full article: https://www.thedailystar.net/star-health/news/bangladesh-cancer-and-palliative-care-center-bcpcc-opens-dhanmondi-4259451

31/08/2026

Aged care facilities already collect enormous amounts of data on residents. So why does end-of-life planning still come too late for so many older Australians?

A new Flinders University and Catholic Healthcare research partnership is exploring exactly that — with nurse practitioner Lara McIntyre leading a $240,000 PhD project that asks: what would happen if we read all that clinical data as a story, rather than separate data points?

"The pain of having a loved one die does not need to be compounded by a poor experience or bad death. We get one chance to get it right."

A timely and important piece for anyone working in aged care, palliative care, or digital health. 🔗 Click the link below to read the full article.

Flinders University and Catholic Healthcare have teamed up to support a PhD candidate to explore the use of existing clinical data to improve end-of-life care.

30/08/2026

Free palliative and hospice care. Free medical equipment loans — hospital beds, wheelchairs, oxygen machines. Diapers and food rations for disadvantaged households. Female relatives allowed to stay overnight.

Persatuan Kebajikan I-Kasih Johor Baru has been quietly doing all of this, funded entirely by donations and corporate sponsorship, with a simple rule: no fees, no exceptions.

When offered RM10,000 a month to admit a private patient, the founder said no. When approached by Singaporeans willing to pay RM8,000 monthly, he said no again.

This is what staying true to a mission looks like.

🔗 Click the link to read the full article: https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2026/08/28/ngo-stays-true-to-free-cancer-care-mission

29/08/2026

Graduation is not an ending. It is the beginning.

Our APHN faculty recently returned to Timor-Leste — not just to celebrate the graduation of our Lien Collaborative participants, but to visit them in their own workplaces: at Lahane Hospital on its hill above Dili, at Maliana Referral Hospital after three hours on rough roads, and at Suai, where graduates now advocate passionately for palliative care from hospital to home.

In Suai, there is a Tetum word that captures what the palliative care community has built: *Hamutuk* — together. Hospital and community practitioners serving patients side by side.

Partnership is not about one side teaching while the other receives. It is about walking alongside one another.

🔗Click the link to read the full article: https://aphn.org/from-graduation-to-the-ground-continuing-the-palliative-care-journey-in-timor-leste/

28/08/2026

"Someone can have significant and worsening needs but miss out on additional end-of-life support because a clinician cannot confidently predict that they are likely to die within three months."

Palliative Care Australia has responded to the ABC Four Corners investigation into Australia's aged care assessment system — highlighting a critical flaw: the Integrated Assessment Tool does not specifically assess palliative care needs, and the eligibility criteria for the End-of-Life Pathway rely on a prognosis that is inherently difficult to predict.

The solution PCA proposes is straightforward: assess what a person actually needs, and respond to that — not to a calendar.

🔗 Click the link to read the full media release: https://palliativecare.org.au/mediarelease/aged-care-assessments-are-missing-palliative-care-needs/