The Pain & Policy Studies Group (PPSG) / World Health Organization Collaborating Center is very pleased to announce the selection of ten Fellows for its Cohort III International Pain Policy Fellowship (IPPF) program. Built on the success of the previous two cohorts of this program in 2006 and 2008, LIVESTRONG (Lance Armstrong Foundation) and the Open Society Foundations (OSF) International Palliative Care Initiative are providing major funding to support these Fellows for a two-year project.
The purpose of the Fellowship is to assist low and middle income countries to improve patient access to pain medicines recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for pain of cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. United Nations bodies, including the WHO and the International Narcotics Control Board, have expressed concern about the low consumption of controlled pain medicines in the world, especially in developing countries.
Fellows will train with the PPSG and other international experts in Madison, Wisconsin, USA during the week of 6-10 August 2012. They will develop action plans to improve opioid availability that they will implement during the next two years. Many Fellows will be accompanied to Madison by a government representative, demonstrating valuable high-level commitment to support efforts to improve opioid availability for pain management in their respective country.
This 2012 class involves ten Fellows from six countries, with a regional focus on South Asia and Eastern Europe / Central Asia:
South Asia (7 Fellows):
India, 3 Fellows
Bangladesh, 2 Fellows
Sri Lanka, 2 Fellows
Eastern Europe / Central Asia (3 Fellows):
Albania, 1 Fellow
Kyrgyzstan, 1 Fellow
Ukraine, 1 Fellow
The ten selected Fellows are:
Nataliia Datsiuk, MPH - UKRAINE
Rumana Dowla, MBBS, MPH, DipPallMed - BANGLADESH
Kristo Huta, MD, PhD - ALBANIA
Nadarajah Jeyakumaran, MD - SRI LANKA
Farzana Khan, MBBS, MPH - BANGLADESH
Priyadarshini Kulkarni, MD - INDIA
Suraj Perera, MD - SRI LANKA
Taalaigul Sabyrbekova, MD, PhD - KYRGYZSTAN
Shalini Vallabhan, PhD - INDIA
Nandini Vallath, MD - INDIA
We are grateful for additional program funding from the U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee, the International Renaissance Foundation (Ukraine), Open Society Foundation Albania, and Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan.