November 3, 2009

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund has awarded Ann Arbor-based Altarum Institute a £50,000 grant for its work to advance decent care values in palliative care work in sub-Saharan Africa. This award marks the start of a partnership to understand and document an emerging philosophy for improving global health.

“As we work to reform and improve the delivery of care in health systems around the world, we need to learn all that we can about what models work and how they make care more accessible, affordable, and equitable,” said Holly Korda, Ph.D., the research director for innovative care delivery at Altarum Institute. “Decent care values hold the promise for creating just such models of care, and we are eager to explore how those values are operationalized by organizations around the world.”

Decent care is a new philosophy of care being explored by the World Health Organization and Altarum Institute as a way to ensure that patients and communities are heard throughout the care process and that their needs shape the care that is ultimately provided. In January, Altarum worked with WHO on a global consultation on decent care in palliative care services. As a result of that meeting, WHO is now working with Altarum to convene three regional decent care consultations, one each in Africa, the Middle East, and the Western Pacific. Altarum Institute will sponsor demonstration projects in each of these three regions, with the grant from the Fund helping underwrite a demonstration project in partnership with an organization in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund’s Palliative Care Initiative (PCI) works to integrate palliative care into the health systems of sub-Saharan Africa. Olivia Dix, Head of the PCI said, “We believe decent care has much to offer our work and based on what we’ve seen of Altarum’s work in research and evaluation, we are confident that our partnership will enable some of the world’s poorest, most vulnerable people access to this vital approach.”

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund continues the Princess’ humanitarian work in the U.K. and overseas. By giving grants to organizations, championing charitable causes, advocacy, campaigning, and awareness raising, the Fund works to secure sustainable improvements in the lives of the most vulnerable people in the U.K. and around the world. www.theworkcontinues.org
 

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