The 2025 South African Palliative Care Conference, held from June 18 to June 21 at the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani Hotel in Durban, brought together around 350 healthcare providers including doctors, nurses, social workers, therapists, counsellors, researchers, and policymakers to focus on both adult and paediatric palliative care. The conference was a collaborative venture between the Association of Palliative Care Practitioners of South Africa (PALPRAC), Palliative Care for Children South Africa (PatchSA), and the Association of Palliative Care Centres (APCC).

The conference aimed to foster a deeper understanding of the critical role palliative care plays in the healthcare system, share innovative practices, and build networks that strengthen collective efforts and served as a platform for insightful discussions, knowledge sharing, and professional development. Sessions within each day of the conferences were based upon each of the words of the theme, being:

Revolution: Calling for transformation of the existing status quo to ensure palliative care is viewed as an obligation of the healthcare system, equal in value to preventative, curative and rehabilitative care.

Evolution: Celebrating palliative care models evolving to better serve the needs of a diverse South African population, encompassing communities of every age, culture, belief system and socioeconomic status.

Solution: Illuminating innovative problem solving within programmes addressing barriers to the provision of quality palliative care for all.

Opening plenary

Following an optional full day of workshops held on Wednesday, 18 June, the official conference began on Thursday with a warm welcome by conference chairs, Mr Warren Oxford Huggett and Dr Jesne Kisten followed by the lighting of a candle by Dr Samantha Govender and a moment of silence to remember beloved colleagues and patients we have lost in the past year. After a heartwarming singing performance offered by students from the nearby Open Air School, the opening guest speaker, Dr. Busisiwe Ndlovu, Director for Non-Communicable Diseases at the National Department of Health (NdoH), spoke on the comprehensive nature of palliative care, which goes beyond providing comfort to terminally ill patients. She stressed that palliative care enhances the quality of life for individuals with serious illnesses by integrating clinical expertise, emotional intelligence, cultural sensitivity, and ethical considerations and went on to challenge delegates to amplify the impact of palliative care and broaden its accessibility, ensuring its benefits are felt by all, regardless of age, geographic location or socioeconomic status. Delegates were pleased to receive confirmation from Dr Ndlovu that a palliative care person will be appointed to the NDoH whose tasks will include overseeing development and the continued process of review and implementation of the National Policy Framework and Strategy on Palliative Care.

Compassionate communities

In his keynote address, Dr. Suresh Kumar, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Building Long-Term Capacity in Palliative Care and Long-Term Care, defined a compassionate community as one where people are motivated by compassion to take responsibility for and care for each other. Dr Kumar shared insights from Kerala, India, where community participation in palliative care is extensive, with trained volunteers collaborating with healthcare professionals to provide holistic care for patients with advanced diseases.

A panel discussion, led by Dr Colleen Cox, explored the concept of compassionate communities in South Africa with a line-up of expert panelists that included Dr Margie Munnings, a palliative care physician, who shared her experiences in implementing a pilot palliative care project in the George subdistrict. Margie also emphasised the importance of community mobilisation and volunteer training in providing palliative care, drawing inspiration from models in Zimbabwe and Uganda.

In the plenary session later in the day, Erin Das from the Global Treehouse Foundation described and demonstrated how to use The Magnify Tool to improve service delivery in children’s palliative care, after which delegates were privileged to listen to Nokulinda Mkhize, a sangoma and celebrated author, talk on ancestral, cultural and spiritual practices within the modern professional, personal, and community contexts, expanding on the true meaning of the word ubuntu. The session ended with a virtual presentation from Dr Christian Ntizimira who outlined the main tenants of his book The Safari Concept: An African Framework for End-of-Life Care.

Magical Mzansi Mixer 

Thursday evening’s Mzansi Mixer was a multi-sensorial experience of sights, sounds, and tastes of South Africa, and of Durban in particular. Exhilarating entertainment from a group of students from the International School of Performing Arts set the mood for a magical night of socialising, eating, dancing, singing and joyful connection leaving little doubt that people who work in palliative care know how to let their hair down and party!

The party in full swing captured at the Mzansi Mixer held on Thursday evening

Highlights from the second day

Highlights from the morning plenary on the second conference day included an inspiring talk from Tarryn Bell, co-founder of Butterfly Palliative Homes, on how to address the growing need for children’s palliative care in South Africa.  Dr Craig Geoff Howes and Dr Barbara Matthews eloquently described the evolution of ‘The Puzzle Model’ used for integrating telehealth to expand palliative care provision to less accessible locations. This was followed by a panel discussion, led by Dr Margie Venter, on the immense need for palliative care being offered beyond oncology.

A welcome visit by the team from Angel Paws Therapy Dogs along with their well-trained four-legged colleagues, during the morning tea break provided a wonderful opportunity for delegates to ‘destress’ and absorb the calm energy of the therapy dogs. It was a very special moment to witness the sheer delight of the therapy dogs on meeting ‘Mdu’ the recently introduced mascot and ‘therapy dog’ from Umduduzi Hospice Care for Children!

The Durban Declaration

Friday afternoon’s plenary session included a presentation on the importance of accreditation and standards for palliative care centres by Mr Warren Oxford-Huggett, a moving and personal perspective on parental anger in paediatric palliative care from Bonnie Suckling, mother to Jed, who died from brain cancer, and a powerful reminder from Dr Julia Ambler of the necessity for compassionate self-care to overcome the dangers of burnout. The day ended with a series of workshops on sustainable models of providing palliative care in the community, legacy and meaning making at the end of a child’s life, and the final editing of the Durban Declaration, to be presented for delegates to endorse at the end of the conference. This collaborative statement and call to action, developed by PALPRAC, APCC, and PatchSA, reflects a shared commitment to expanding access to quality palliative care across South Africa and highlights the importance of raising public awareness for palliative care, the urgent need for palliative care integration at all levels of healthcare, and the prioritisation of education, access, innovation and policy reform.

A Sunday Tribune article on the conference quotes scientific committee co-chair, Tracey Brand, saying that the Durban Declaration declares that palliative care is a human right both for adults and children and needs to be implemented at all levels of healthcare and should not only be provided by NGO practitioners but by state practitioners as well. You are invited to add your name to those who have already endorsed the declaration.

Dr Aslam Dasoo (APCC), Dr Samantha Govender (PatchSA) and Dr Julia Ambler (Palprac) signed the Durban Declaration as representatives of their respective organisations. 

Final day and closing plenary

As with the previous days, the last day of the conference began with early morning sessions of Chair Yoga and Expressive Arts and parallel sessions covering a wide range of topics on both adult and paediatric palliative care. We were honoured to have a virtual presentation by Dr Megan Doherty, consultant for palliative care at the WHO and based in Geneva, on holding governments to account for the implementation of WHA Resolution 67.19 on Strengthening of Palliative Care. Megan shared a wealth of information and provided a link to a list of resources applicable for the South African setting.

The closing plenary included a fascinating virtual presentation on a revolution in death literacy from Dr Libby Sallnow, Associate Professor and Head of Department of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department at University College London, a description of a revolutionary ethical model for palliative care from Dr Michelle Meiring, Convener of the Post-Graduate Diploma in Paediatric Palliative Care at the University of Cape Town and founder of Paedspal, followed by a look at palliative care policy implications for South Africa and  the ratification of The Durban Declaration from Dr Aslam Dasoo, APCC Chair, assisted by Dr Thilo Govender. The declaration was signed by Dr Dasso, representing APCC, Dr Julia Ambler, representing Palprac, and Dr Samantha Govender, representing PatchSA.

The closing address for the conference was delivered by Sr Joan Marston, a doyenne and leading light for palliative care in South Africa and globally.  Speaking on envisioning the future of palliative care, she was able to bring everything that had been learned throughout the conference together and offer an authentic and hopeful overview of what has been achieved and the goals yet to be reached, leaving delegates to depart with a sense of collaboration and kindness, which is the very essence of palliative care.

Thanks, and congratulations to those who made it happen

We congratulate the Local Organising Committee and Scientific Committee members for their commitment and dedication to staging an unforgettable 2025 South African Palliative Care Conference in Durban. Successful conferences do not happen without an enormous amount of hard work. Planning for this conference began 18 months in advance and included many hours of meetings, administration, the sending and receiving of thousands of emails and phone calls, and just a little blood, sweat and tears! The three collaborating partners are most grateful to all the businesses, organisations, and individual sponsors who supported the conference. In particular we would like to record our thanks to Gwynneth and Zelda and their team from Southern Cross Conferences.

Members of the Local Organising Committee and the Scientific Committee responsible for delivering the 2025 South African Palliative Care Conference

Learn more about the conference

Learn more about the programme, speakers, and activities that took place by visiting the conference website. For more images go to our PatchSA Facebook page and to see those shared by delegates, like and follow PCCDurban on Facebook.