Global Health Reflections

Lori DiPrete Brown, Njekwa Lumbwe, Jim Cleary, and program leader from African Palliative Care Association.

 During August of 2012, The UW Madison Global Health Institute was privileged to welcome Njekwa Lumbwe, that National Coordinator of the Palliative Care Association of Zambia, for an exchange visit to Madison where she participated in a Pain Policy training session led by  GHI Program Director Dr. Jim Cleary.  Dr. Cleary works with leaders from around the world to develop and scale up effective state-of-the-art policies and programs related to pain management.

Mrs. Lumbwe made valued contributions to the meeting and also gained insights about the way forward for Zambia, as she learned from the experiences of 9 other countries from Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia.  Engagement with global experts and national leaders from around the world helped Lumbwe to envision policy options and implementation strategies that could be applied in Zambia.

Her commitment to palliative care defines her as a leader, and the participation in the meeting reinforced this commitment.  “The meeting opened up a whole different perspective of the global state of pain control.  I pledge to use this experience to bring out the desired change.  I look forward to stronger future collaboration,”   said Lumbwe in her report to the group.

Soon after in November of 2012, we found that Njekwa Lumbe was following through on her promises, working nationally as a change leader, and collaborating with the First Lady of Zambia to make palliative care more accessible. We look forward to welcoming Njekwa back to Madison in the future!