Setting up a community-led palliative care programme in low-income urban settings in Cape Town, South Africa
1
School of Public Health, University of Cape Town, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
2
Heideveld and Manenburg Community Health Committee, Cape Town, South Africa
3
Department of Family, Community and Emergency Care, University of Cape Town, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
4
Western Cape Department of Health, Cape Town, South Africa
5
Chronic Disease Initiative for Africa, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):A699
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Palliative care (PC) is recognised by the World Health Organisation and the South African government as an essential component of Universal Health Coverage. Despite this recognition and a significant unmet need, implementation of PC services in South Africa remains limited, particularly in low-income urban communities. This interactive, organised session presents a community-engaged public health research project that seeks to strengthen access to PC by developing compassionate, community-led models of care in two underserved urban settings in Cape Town.
METHODS:
The session provides a concise project overview with facilitated, dialogic engagement between researchers, community members involved in the project, and session participants. Grounded in a community-based participatory action research framework, the project unfolds across four phases from community entry to programme evaluation. This session focuses on Phase One, covering relationship-building, assessment of community assets and readiness, and anchoring programme development in local understandings of health, illness, care, birth, and death using health literacy and community engagement. Methods included building community profiles, stakeholder and community meetings, transect walks, and community asset mapping.
RESULTS:
Drawing on shared reflections from community members and the research team, the interactive components of the session will be organised around five key lessons from the community entry phase: (1) initial engagement and trust-building; (2) fostering community ownership and co-development; (3) researcher commitment and sustainability; (4) establishing strong local leadership; and (5) using creative and contextually responsive engagement methodologies. Participants will be invited into guided discussion and reflection on these themes, encouraging exchange across contexts and disciplines.
CONCLUSIONS:
By centring lived experience alongside academic perspectives and prioritising dialogue over presentation, this organised session critically examines the opportunities and tensions inherent in developing community-led PC interventions in resource-constrained settings. It offers practical and reflective insights into participatory public health research practices that support dignity, equity, and sustained community action.
Palliative care (PC) is recognised by the World Health Organisation and the South African government as an essential component of Universal Health Coverage. Despite this recognition and a significant unmet need, implementation of PC services in South Africa remains limited, particularly in low-income urban communities. This interactive, organised session presents a community-engaged public health research project that seeks to strengthen access to PC by developing compassionate, community-led models of care in two underserved urban settings in Cape Town.
METHODS:
The session provides a concise project overview with facilitated, dialogic engagement between researchers, community members involved in the project, and session participants. Grounded in a community-based participatory action research framework, the project unfolds across four phases from community entry to programme evaluation. This session focuses on Phase One, covering relationship-building, assessment of community assets and readiness, and anchoring programme development in local understandings of health, illness, care, birth, and death using health literacy and community engagement. Methods included building community profiles, stakeholder and community meetings, transect walks, and community asset mapping.
RESULTS:
Drawing on shared reflections from community members and the research team, the interactive components of the session will be organised around five key lessons from the community entry phase: (1) initial engagement and trust-building; (2) fostering community ownership and co-development; (3) researcher commitment and sustainability; (4) establishing strong local leadership; and (5) using creative and contextually responsive engagement methodologies. Participants will be invited into guided discussion and reflection on these themes, encouraging exchange across contexts and disciplines.
CONCLUSIONS:
By centring lived experience alongside academic perspectives and prioritising dialogue over presentation, this organised session critically examines the opportunities and tensions inherent in developing community-led PC interventions in resource-constrained settings. It offers practical and reflective insights into participatory public health research practices that support dignity, equity, and sustained community action.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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