Spring is a time for new beginnings and in APLI, we are in tune with the season, it seems. There have been several new beginnings over recent months and this newsletter will bring you up to date with them all.

There are a few changes of particular note.

1) New mailing address following the move of yours truly to Melbourne. Many thanks to A/Prof Norelle Lickiss for allowing APLI to operate out of the Central Sydney Palliative Care Service offices at RPAH and to Janeen for all her secretarial support. Interest in APLI in Victoria has been exciting to see. We are in the process of setting up a second working group in Melbourne, with the Sydney -based group continuing to meet and plan forums there. Drs Jenny Philips and Mark Broughey have agreed to help with newsletter preparation and we aim to produce a quarterly newsletter from this point on. We will also arrange bi-annual forums in Melbourne. We would like to see similar APLI groups formed in other centres and if anyone is interested in establishing a group, please let me know. Also, if anyone would like to participate in working groups looking into ways to develop teaching skills and supports for people going to teach in developing countries, please let me know.

2)APLI webpage. The page is nearing completion and will contain basic information about APLI, how to join, registration details, addresses of the executive committee, advantages of membership, and hyperlinks to other related organisations such as the International Hospice Institute and College (IHIC). We will also include an article from a developing service (see this month’s article from Sarawak, Malaysia) or from a member of APLI relating an experience of working or teaching in a developing setting. These reports will be updated regularly. We encourage articles from any member of APLI about such experiences. Depending on the response to this request, we will try to include articles, or at least significant excerpts, in each newsletter and on webpage updates.

3)Finally, the perhaps- inevitable has caught up with us. We are now asking new members to contribute $40.00 on first registering and $20.00 annually thereafter. Those currently on the mailing list will be asked to contribute $20.00 p.a. Please send this sum to

APLI Dr Michael Barbato,
75 Hill St Roseville 2069
Ph (02) 9416 1904
Email barbato@eisa.net.au

It will allow us to cover mailing and secretarial costs and also to keep the website professionally up-to-date. We hope that you will continue to support APLI and do not find this unreasonable.

News in Brief

New logo soon to be launched on webpage and future newsletters and correspondence – thanks to Sue Bray, CSPCS, for her art work.

Thanks again to Palls of Palliative Care for their kind donation for development of the webpage.

Link developed with IHIC. IHIC hoping to obtain funds to establish teaching grants. Dr Roger Woodruff is head of the management committee of IHIC. He has asked that APLI work closely with IHIC and coordinate our efforts in Australasia. Dr Odette Spruyt has joined the IHIC management board.

Marie Coughlan, RN, represented APLI as a key speaker at the Palliative Care Association of NSW meeting in August. Thanks to Marie for her efforts.

Please remember that you can subscribe to the mailing list of APLI by sending an email to maiser@pal.rpa.cs.nsw.gov.au

Did you knowthat-

The 5^th Indian Association of Palliative Medicine conference is in Calicut, Feb 1999

There will be a second Malaysian national conference of palliative care in Penang, March 1999

Quote from WHO director, Dr Nakajima "The prime concern of the international community must be the plight of those most likely to be left furthest behind as the rest of the world steps confidently into the future.

"These are the many hundreds of millions of men, women and children still trapped in the grimmest poverty. They live mainly in the least developed countries, where the burdens of ill health, disease and inequality are heaviest, the outlook is bleakest, and life is shortest"

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