Africa palliative care pioneer Anne Merriman dies in Kampala

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The global palliative care community is mourning Irish physician and founder of Hospice Africa Uganda Dr Anne Merriman.

Merriman passed away peacefully at her home in Munyunyo, Kampala, on Sunday, May 18, 2025. She was 90. She had been in poor health for some time and celebrated her 90th birthday on May 13, 2025.

Affectionately known as the “Grandmother of Palliative Care in Africa”, Merriman dedicated her life to bringing dignity, compassion and comfort to those at the end of life.

A young Dr Anne. (Courtesy)

Hospice Africa Uganda, the organisation she founded in 1993, announced her passing with a message that captured the heart of her work: “Our love comes from God, and our compassion comes from the example of a good Samaritan... Rest well, Dr Anne. Forever in our hearts.”

Over her decades-long mission in Africa that extended over several countries, Merriman championed affordable access to pain relief and holistic care for patients with life-limiting illnesses, especially cancer and HIV/AIDS.

Her tireless advocacy led to the legalisation and local production of oral morphine in Uganda—an essential step in easing suffering for thousands who would otherwise die in agony.

View of Hospice Africa Uganda offices in Makindye on July 9, 2024. (File/New Vision/Mary Kansiime)

(File/New Vision/Mary Kansiime)

Eulogies

Across Uganda and beyond, heartfelt tributes have poured in from individuals and institutions touched by her life’s work.

Kawempe Home Care, one of the many organisations Merriman supported, shared, “She has touched many lives in the palliative care world, including those of our patients. Such a true hero. May her soul rest in eternal peace.”

The Palliative Care Association of Uganda wrote, “Last night the candle for the Grandmother of Palliative Care in Africa stopped burning, but her love, compassion, and unwavering dedication to Ubuntu will continue to live in all of us she inspired.”

Even diplomatic circles paid homage. The Ambassador of Ireland to Uganda described her as “the embodiment of caring and compassion... her life is a testament to the vision of hospice care for all in Africa.”

Dr Anne and Cherie Blair receiving Fellowship Award for humanitarian work 2011. (Courtesy)

Merriman’s vision was simple, yet radical: that no one should die in pain. And with that conviction, she trained generations of health workers, empowered communities, and planted the seeds of hospice care across the continent.

Mark Bikosa, one of many whose lives she touched, summed up what many feel today: “God blessed Dr Anne Merriman with a heart of compassion for the sick... May God bless her legacy.”

Her Life

Born in Liverpool, England, on May 13, 1935, to Irish parents, Dr Merriman was a visionary doctor who introduced palliative care to Uganda and the wider African continent. She was known as the “mother of palliative care in Africa”.

After completing secondary school in Liverpool, Dr Merriman joined the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM) order in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland, fulfilling a dream held as a young girl to serve the underprivileged in Africa. The order sent her to University College Dublin (UCD) to train in medicine, after which she worked in Nigeria. Though she later left the order in her early 30s, she maintained a strong faith and deep ties with the MMM sisters.

Throughout her career, she worked in the UK, Malaysia, Singapore, and Kenya, gaining extensive experience in tropical medicine and community health.

Witnessing the acute need for palliative care in Africa, Dr Merriman founded Hospice Africa Uganda (HAU) in 1993 at the age of 57, operating initially from a modest two-bedroom house loaned by Nsambya Hospital in Kampala. Her pioneering model of affordable, home-based palliative care, using oral morphine for pain management, revolutionised end-of-life care in Uganda and Africa.

Dr Merriman’s vision was for palliative care to be accessible to all in need across Africa. To achieve this, she established the Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care in Africa (IHPCA), headquartered at HAU, which today offers master’s, bachelor’s, and diploma programmes in palliative care and has trained hundreds of students from 37 African countries.

She also founded international programmes within HAU, collaborating with partner organisations to train healthcare workers, raise awareness, advocate for government support, and provide essential resources for palliative care sustainability across Africa.

Under her leadership, HAU expanded, establishing Mobile Hospice Mbarara and Little Hospice Hoima in 1998. Additionally, she played a key role in founding both the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) and the African Palliative Care Association (APCA), dedicated to broadening palliative care access.

Global recognition

Dr Merriman's remarkable contributions earned her global recognition. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2003 for her services to health in Uganda and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. Always proud of her Irish roots, she was honoured in 2013 with the Presidential Distinguished Service Award by President Michael D. Higgins of Ireland.

Her accolades also included honorary doctorates from institutions such as University College Dublin and Edge Hill University. In 2016, she was named UCD Alumnus of the Year in Health Sciences. Beyond her clinical work, Dr Merriman was an esteemed educator, serving as an honorary teaching fellow at Lancaster University and an honorary professor of palliative care at Makerere University in Kampala.

Dr Merriman also shared her experiences through her books, "Audacity to Love: The Story of Hospice Africa" (2010) and "How the Light Got In" (2023), which was released to mark the 30th anniversary of HAU and chronicled her life’s journey.

HAU Executive Director, Prossy Nakyanja, said while the HAU team deeply mourns Dr Merriman’s passing, “We take immense pride in the incredible legacy she leaves behind. Her pioneering work will continue to impact generations to come, ensuring that palliative care remains accessible to those who need it most.”

She said, “Her life was a testament to compassion, innovation, and unwavering dedication to ensuring that critically ill patients are pain-free and in comfort. We will continue the mission she started. That is what she would have wanted.”

Dr Merriman’s last public appearance was at her 90th birthday on May 13, 2025. Though frail, she shared a special message with her guests.

“I want to tell you all – the team, the patients, family – I love you. Our love comes from God, and our compassion comes from the example of a good Samaritan. Compassion is such an important thing for us, not only in our work but also with each other. It's important, even in our families, anywhere.”

“When I look back on my life, the biggest thing I see is that I moved from place to place, and I wasn't sure why. But God knew why and brought me back to Africa after working in Nigeria. I would also like to say that there is nowhere I would rather be looked after than here in this house by my Ugandan family and by the nurses from Uganda.

“I love you all, and I want you to go away with the message that God is in everybody's life, and sometimes you don't know why you are doing certain things. But if you are close to Jesus or Allah or whatever you call your God, then you are going to follow his lead.”

Family

The last of her immediate family to pass away, Dr Merriman is survived by her first cousins in the UK, Michael Merriman, Eileen Evans and Patsy Beddoe-Stephens. Michael Merriman’s son, Chris, is chair of Hospice Africa UK. 

She is also survived by her nieces, Paula and Jane Logan and second cousins in Dublin. She is mourned by her cherished “Ugandan family”, Anne Bisaso, Margaret Kazibwe and Alice Kabaseke, and their children, who cared for her with unwavering love and commitment in her final years.

The countless patients and families whose lives she touched and the global palliative care community that continues to build upon her foundational work also mourn her.

Immeasurable void

Dr Merriman’s passing leaves an immeasurable void not only within the African palliative care community but also in the global palliative care movement, to which she made groundbreaking contributions over her long and distinguished career.

From 1993, Dr Merriman led Uganda’s palliative care revolution, fuelled by compassion and an unwavering belief in human dignity. “We trained people. We adapted care to local cultures. But now, the model we built struggles to survive.”

Hospice Africa Uganda, which she founded, has inspired services in 37 African countries, offering deeply personal care—relieving pain, entering homes, and bringing love in life’s final days.

Indeed, her legacy is not only etched in policy or practice—it lives on in the comfort of the many who found peace in their final days and in the countless hearts she inspired to care, to serve, and to love.