Natasha Pederson has been a member of the PPC international community for many years, continuously and intrepidly striving for the introduction and development of children’s palliative care in her country.

Her interest in this discipline was born from personal experience and necessity; for seventeen years she was her daughter’s primary carer with no access to palliative care services for her or for her family. In 2010, when, sadly, her daughter Andreas died, she took up the gauntlet in the crusade for palliative care so that other children with serious illness and their families would not have to experience her same, arduous plight.
Ever since, Natasha has endeavoured tirelessly at an academic, political and healthcare level to raise awareness of children’s palliative care and constantly interfaces with frontline families, especially in her work as a chaplain.

She actively connected with numerous international organisations in the children’s palliative care sector to learn form their experiences, and create resources for children, families, healthcare workers, often translating and adapting existing documents for use in Norway, where there were none.

She is founder, CEO and councillor of the Norwegian Association for Children’s Palliative Care (FFB) the only organisation in the Nordic region lobbying for the development of children’s palliative care services.

Currently, she is a member of the Board of the EAPC, and a participant in the dedicated Steering Committee on Paediatric Palliative Care aimed at enhanced care provision for children throughout Europe.

In Norway, she has worked closely with decision and policy makers to advocate children’s palliative care, instigating the draft of guidelines for the development of gold-standard palliative care services for children.

Of her many admirable achievements, perhaps the most important was the pledge, in 2016, from the Norwegian government to build the first children’s hospice in Norway. The Hospice, currently under construction, is scheduled to open in 2023.

Natasha is certainly the epitome of what we call a ‘Champion for children’s palliative care’; those who selflessly endeavour to make a difference to other peoples lives.
In Norway, renowned for her tireless energy and enthusiasm as a campaigner, she is celebrated as the “Mother of children’s palliative care”.

This Award is a well-deserved acknowledgement of all her accomplishments and a heartfelt encouragement for all her future undertakings.

A pioneer and an internationally recognized authority in child-specific Palliative Care, throughout her brilliant career her dedication and outstanding achievements have significantly impacted palliative care delivery to children of all ages. She has developed and continues to direct many educational programmes and curricula, and has focused her research interests on palliative care delivery for children that fosters hope, optimizes quality of life and provides comfort to seriously ill children and their families.

To recite her impressive curriculum and list her many academic accomplishments is superfluous. It suffices to mention that she recently became President Elect of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and she was nominated as one of the top 10 influential leaders in the palliative care field in North America. Her aptitude as a brilliant scientist and dedicated clinician is distinguished by an intense humility, simplicity and generosity, a delightful amalgamation which is infused with a wonderful sense of humour that renders her truly an extraordinary person.

Since graduating in Nursing and Social Science, Joan Marston has been actively involved for more than 20 years in the promotion and organization of palliative care for children, with a special attention to the development of Paediatric Palliative Care (PPC) in the African Continent.
Besides her particular attention to the children’s needs in developing countries, Joan has contributed significantly to the development of PPC worldwide, establishing, with other Colleagues, the International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) which has members in over 100 countries.

A recognized authority and a committed advocate for the right to access paediatric palliative care and pain relief, Joan continues to be actively involved in promoting the development, organization and consolidation of PPC services in many part of the world with a boundless energy and dedication.

From the very beginning of her professional and academic career Doctor Goldman has devoted her attention, participation and activities to developing an effective and holistic approach to the management of children with life-limiting and life-threatening illness and their families, with the aim of alleviating their suffering and improving their quality of life. She is recognized worldwide as pioneer in the field of paediatric palliative care and her contributions have encompassed all the many and complex characteristics of this relatively new discipline: organizational, medical, psychological, ethical and educational.

Doctor Goldman’s authoritativeness and excellence in the field of paediatric palliative care is documented, not only, by her brilliant academic career and the numerous prestigious awards received, but by her many scientific publications, which constitute the ‘gold standard’; the irremissible reference for all the professionals engaged in paediatric palliative care.  

Doctor Garchakova’s commitment and determination to provide effective physical and emotional support for dying children and their families led her to overcome the considerable difficulties to establish, in 1994, the first children’s hospice in the whole former Soviet Union. Thanks to Dr. Garchakova’s tenacious efforts, there are seven children’s hospices providing palliative care to children with life-limiting illness throughout the Republic of Belarus. One of these provides fundamental care for children in the Minsk region, many of which were born with congenital anomalies to survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Above all, Dr. Garchakova has distinguished herself as a direct motivator in international training and partnership programs actively contributing with a unique passion and dedication to the development and improvement of palliative care provision for children and their families.

Doctor Hain is an internationally recognized expert in children’s palliative care, with many original publications in international journals he has contributed greatly to the development of evidence-based research in this field. His attention and contributions are not limited to the research aspects; he has also focused his attention to the ethical problems faced by those who are actively involved in the care of children with serious and incurable illness.

The professionalism of Dr. Hain, united with intelligence, intuition, and his interpersonal and organizational skills, distinguish him as one of the pioneers of children’s palliative care in Europe.

In many years of passionate dedication that went beyond his institutional commitment, Marco Spizzichino became a person of reference for all those fostering better palliative care in Italy. He was one of the first and most convinced advocates of the specificity in palliative care provision for babies, children and adolescents, separate from adult services, and of the need to develop care plans tailored to the individual needs of each child.

He assiduously oversaw, with attention and competence, the institutional process that led to the broad recognition of this problem. In his work, he approached the subject of serious and incurable illness with humanity and compassion, sustaining respect and dignity as fundamental values to uphold.