Cheryl Cox Macpherson, Ph.D., is a Professor and the Chair of Bioethics Center at St George's University School of Medicine (SGU) in Grenada where she enjoys teaching medical and graduate students from many nations and backgrounds. She also serves as an IRB officer, and was a co-founder of the first IRB in Grenada. She received her BS from Purdue, her PhD from Indiana University, and held two postdoctoral fellowships in England. In 1991, she accepted a position as lecturer (assistant professor) at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. She was recruited to SGU in 1993. Her publications reflect her efforts toward capacity building in the Caribbean, and her interest in multicultural issues.

Presentation: Partnering with Stakeholders to Promote Palliative Care in the Caribbean

There is relatively little palliative care available in non-industrial nations due, in part, to lack of related policy and limited resources. This paper describes an attempt to develop palliative care capacity in the Caribbean and shows that even in a cross cultural setting, a multidisciplinary strategy involving partnership with local stakeholders can impact on local priorities and lead to provision of care that had not previously been available. National, socioeconomic, cultural, and political constraints impact upon the demand for, and availability of, various types of healthcare. Such constraints pose barriers to partnerships, and to the provision of health services. Mistrust and misunderstanding, for example, may derive from stakeholder conflicts, and competition for limited resources. Likewise, there may be mistrust and misunderstanding of foreigners. A strategy of partnering with stakeholders is consistent with respect for persons, sensitivity and/or responsiveness to cultural differences, and the idea of global bioethics. Rather than relying on expert opinion about what is needed and how best to provide it, stakeholders must be consulted about their priorities and realities. This encourages their commitment to developing and sustaining a suitable response. For long term success, partnerships must facilitate stakeholder involvement in the design and implementation of policies and programs.