16th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC)

More than 3.000 participants from more than 100 countries, among them 500 participants from Germany, had come to the international congress in Berlin from Mai 23^rd to 25^th. The program, presented in a brochure of more than 200 pages, covered an ambitious spectrum of subjects and was titled “Global Palliative Care – Shaping the Future”. The many issues ranging from care, research to central aspects of educational work reflected the high degree of complexity in the development of palliative care. On the congress, the former vice-president of the EAPC Professor Dr. Christoph Ostgathe was elected new president of the European Association as successor to Professor Phil Larkin. He was glad to take the opportunity of his first public appearance during the international Symposium on Voluntary Work to emphasize the special importance of synergy between full-time and voluntary work in hospice and palliative care. Voluntary colleagues, he said, were “an elementary part of the team”.

The 17^th congress of the EAPC in 2021 will invite its participants to the north of Europe, actually to Helsinki. It is to be hoped that this congress will find the same enthusiastic reception of all participants as it was to be found in Berlin. New horizons can result from this common strength. May the countries of east and southeast Europe and of central Asia be part of this strength and get stronger and more visible in their ways of palliative care in Helsinki.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo above and photos 1-3: Impressions from the Congress

Photo 4: A Visit with Guests from Kazakhstan and England to the hospice in Schöneberg-Steglitz

Photo 5: At “Gendarmenmarkt” in Berlin