New #LaughAtDeath campaign attempts to make Indians accept death

The Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC), today, launched a new public awareness campaign on palliative or end of life care, that will help Indians #LaughAtDeath.

In India, death is a taboo topic, with people uncomfortable discussing it. Leaving Terminally ill patients and their families confused, lonely and often depressed. Palliative or end-or-life care focuses on making Terminally ill patients comfortable during their last days. It includes counseling for the patient and their family members, which helps them accept death, make the most of their last days and actually enjoy them.  

In a society where death isn’t spoken about, the #LaughAtDeath campaign features terminally ill patients that performed a stand-up comedy show for their families and doctors, thus demonstrating that palliative care helps patients get comfortable with death. Even joke about it. These patients were selected from hundreds of terminally ill patients that IAPC members support daily, and trained by India’s best stand-up comedians – Kunal Kamra, Kashyap, Vinay Sharma, Punit Pania, Shriram R and Anand Reghu.

The campaign has broken on Twitter through the first ever comedy show on Twitter and will be amplified on social and digital media through a partnership with The Logical Indian, a platform that leads news and issues that often miss the limelight in the traditional Indian media. Radio Mirchi is also joining hands to bring the #LaughAtDeath campaign to radio. The campaign is supported by the website – www.endoflifecareindia.com – and its social media platforms (Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/EndOfLifeCareIndia/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EndOfLifeCareIN YouTube: http://bit.ly/2n9aUmB ), which are equipped to counsel patients and connect them to palliative care centers across India.

The campaign was taken live today morning and is already trending at #1 on Twitter all-India, generating some personal and heartfelt comments.

Amit Akali, Chief Creative Officer of Medulla, the healthcare-specialist advertising agency that developed the campaign, said, “This was the most difficult (almost impossible) project of our lives. Made easy and possible by the patients, eager to share their stories and make the most of their last days. They moved us with their courage and floored us with their live performances, some of them taking a stage for the first time in 85 years! They opened their lives to the stand-up comics and rehearsed hard for days.”

Mihir Chitre, Creative Group Head, was just happy to work with the patients, “The most rewarding part of this campaign has been interacting with the terminally ill patients. I think they’ve changed the way I look at life.”

Praful Akali, the Founder & MD on Medulla, added, “This is not just a campaign but an ongoing project and platform for terminally ill patients to share their stories and spread awareness on Palliative care. Love it because it brings alive the power of palliative care in a real way. It is about the strongest demo campaign you’ll ever see.”

Dr. Mary Ann Muckaden, President of IAPC, concluded, “We are looking forward to increase access to palliative care in India with Medulla – right now only 3% of cancer patients get even simple pain relief. Hopefully, this campaign will change that. A big thank you to the patients for sharing their stories, the comedians who trained them, Film-maker Rahul Sengupta for capturing their performances, the venue and media partners who supported us in creating awareness.”