#85 The Safari Concept with Dr. Christian Ntizimira

In this episode it is my pleasure to talk with Dr. Christian Ntizimira, author of “The Safari Concept: An African Framework on End-of-Life Care” and Founder/Executive Director of the African Center for Research on End-of-Life Care. Christian shares the journey which led him to write the Safari Concept and we explore how culture and belief impact communication and care.

It is a powerful episode with messages about bias, development of culturally appropriate models and recognition of Ubuntu – I am because we are. 

Key messages from guest

• Christian shares the broad research  questions he asked: how do Africans die and how do Africans wish to die after realising there was no data or research to address these end of life questions in Africa

• Understanding and responding the questions lead to the development of the research centre ACREOL and an opportunity to develop a model for palliative care in Africa

• Christian shares his experience of how people in African countries die - generally at a hospital however many wish to be at home and cared for by their community.

• We talk the journey that led to  Christian creating  The Safari Concept

• The impact of loss of a sense of humanity following the genocide is identified by Christian 

• The 12 animal archetypes are explained by Christian followed by why this is important in African culture

• Christian describes the language of  suffering in terms of the animal archetypes 

• The difference between talking and listening is explored by Christian

• We explore the model Christian has developed to run family models and the partnership working that develops from discussion

• The concept of End of Life Care is explored in relation to the African culture

Resource

• Buy the book: The Safari Concept: An African Framework for End-of-Life Care

• Find out more about  ACREOL, the African Center for Research on End of Life Care 

• Access the Rwanda National Palliative Care Policy 2011

• Access the Rolling out Rwanda’s national palliative care programme from the National Library of Medicine

• Access the paper: Making Advance Care Planning a part of cancer patients' end-of-life care in Rwanda  “After the devastating damage inflicted by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda made great strides in reconstructing its healthcare system from scratch. Although cancer mortality rates continue to rise, there is still a dearth of qualified healthcare workers for advance care planning (ACP) for terminally ill patients.”

• Ntizimira C, Deo MS, Dunne M, Krakauer E. Decolonizing end-of-life care: lessons and opportunities. Ecancermedicalscience. 2022 Apr 28;16:ed121. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2022.ed121. PMID: 35702412; PMCID: PMC9116996.

Twitter contacts: 

@ntizimira

@acreol_org

Bio: 

Dr. Christian Ntizimira is the author of “The Safari Concept: An African Framework on End-of-Life Care” and Founder/Executive Director of the African Center for Research on End-of-Life Care (ACREOL), a non-profit organization to bring socio-cultural equality through “Ubuntu in End-of-life Care” in Africa. He is a Fulbright Alumni and graduated from Harvard Medical School, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. Dr. Ntizimira is also an alumnus of the Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership programme, which aims to bring selected Africans to strategize, manage and lead public health programs that will transform public health in Africa.

Dr. Ntizimira is the winner of the prestigious Tällberg-Stervos Niarcos Foundation-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize 2021 for his passionate advocacy for palliative care in Rwanda and elsewhere in Africa, based on his deeply held belief that dignified end-of-life care is a human right.