On November 6, 2009 at the Territorial Medical Association Center in the Capital was held the national conference "Palliative Care in Pediatrics. The event was organized by the Charity Foundation for Public Health „Angelus Moldova” in partnership with Hospice Palliative Care Society and with the support of the Ministry of Health of Moldova.

The conference was attended by doctors, pediatricians, oncologists, hematologists and family physicians throughout the republic. As special guests were Mrs. Rodica Palaria, Consultant in Mother and Child Health Direction of the Ministry of Health and Mrs. Adela Glavan, Director AMT Center. In her opening speech, the representative of the Ministry of Health has reconfirmed the importance of palliative care development in Moldova, and especially in the pediatric field, which is a sensitive area in this regard.

Thematic of the conference was approached for the first time in our country, problems of children with progressive end-stage diseases lacking special attention. In general, palliative care of children is an unrecognized and undeveloped field and therefore it requires a focus of both management as well as clinical concentration, of research in order to obtain basic data for practice. For the staff which provides palliative care, education and experience in child care is essential, as well as the establishment of training and courses.

At the conference were presented various approaches to the problems of children with advanced and progressive terminal disease stages. Romania's experience in this field was presented by Ms. Delia Birtar, a pediatrician at the Hospice Home of Hope and Ms Cristina Golea, nurse at the same center of excellence in palliative care. Doctors from Hospice "Angelus" Natalia Lisita and Andrei Bradu have presented the evaluation in palliative care needs assessment in oncologic pediatrics, and Natalia Carafizi presented one of the non-invasive methods to control chronic pain. Ms. Elena Triboi, professor at National College of Medicine and Pharmacy has presented the specifics of palliative care of children, and Mrs. Ludmila Postica, teacher at the same institution has approached the topic of palliative care for children and young adults. The conference was moderated by the Director CFPH "Angelus Moldova", Dr. Valerian Isac.

In the future there are planned some other similar events, which aim to promote palliative care in Moldova, relieving pain and controlling symptoms of people suffering from incurable diseases in advanced and terminal stages. There will be organized scientific conferences and training courses so that more people would be able to benefit from qualitative palliative care.

Please note that Hospice "Angelus" provides free palliative care to population of Chisinau, during last year extending its activity also in other regions of the country. Pediatric palliative care Service was initiated by Hospice "Angelus" in November 2008.

For more information on palliative care for children and young adults, please contact the doctors and nurses of Hospice "Angelus" at (022) 925315 or (022) 235628.