Dr Michelle Meiring, who founded Paedspal in 2016 to provide palliative care for children with incurable illnesses, is stepping down as CEO after 10 years to focus on full-time work at the University of Cape Town. She reflected on her career from the HIV/Aids pandemic to current initiatives. Meiring announced a new Paediatric Palliative Care Centre of Excellence in Cape Town, with R50-million funding from Cipla South Africa.
Dr Michelle Meiring began her career as a paediatrician in Johannesburg during the height of South Africa's HIV/Aids pandemic, completing specialist training between 1998 and 2002. An epiphany came at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, where she cared for a four-month-old infant with advanced HIV who died just before her shift ended. 'I realised how depersonalised I’d become,' she said, prompting her to learn palliative care at Houghton Hospice.
She founded her first NGO, Children’s Homes Outreach Medical Programmes (Chomp), and later Big Shoes, which established branches in Durban in 2008 and Cape Town in 2009. Big Shoes closed after fraud by a new CEO, but Meiring secured Mapula Trust funding to launch Paedspal in 2016. Nurse Manda Kanka, who joined in 2018, praised Meiring as a 'wonderful teacher' and noted improved symptom control for children.
Meiring's caseload has shifted from 60% HIV cases to rare diseases and neurological conditions like cerebral palsy. She contributed to South Africa's National Policy Framework and Strategy on Palliative Care (2017-2022), now expired without renewal. 'South Africa’s improving... but we’ve still got a lot of work to do,' she said.
Stepping down from Paedspal, Meiring will convene UCT's paediatric palliative medicine diploma full-time and drive the new Centre of Excellence, partnering with UCT, Rohan Bloom Foundation, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and Cicely Saunders Institute. 'Cipla South Africa... [is] giving us R50-million to secure a building,' she stated.
