My visit to the AFRAN congress
ISN was very well represented at the 14th Congress of AFRAN which was held recently in Yaounde, Cameroon. The President, President-Elect and two Past ISN Presidents were onsite, as were many other members of the ISN family.
It was also the 3rd Congress of The Cameroon Society of Nephrology (SOCANEPH) and the 7th Congress of the African Pediatric Nephrology Association (AFPNA), and marked the 30th anniversary of the founding of AFRAN. The impressive quality of the presentations, the insightful questions and discussions from the audience and the large number of delegates from all over Africa showed just how much African nephrology is leaping ahead.
ISN organized a regional workshop during the program, to explain ISN’s role and activities within the region, as well as opportunities for emerging nephrology communities to strengthen their capacities with the support of our unique global medical society. The workshop was a success, with more than 150 participants, and showed the increasing interest and needs of the African nephrology community within the ISN. Many African countries are still lacking basic nephrology services and ISN should support them.
ISN President Adeera Levin, Deputy Chair of the ISN Regional Board Gloria Ashuntantang and ISN Programs Chair John Feehally talked about the ISN, its various activities and capacity-building programs, more specifically in Africa.
Insightful testimonies from former ISN Fellows Dr Maria Faye from Senegal and and Francis Fredrick Furia from Tanzania explained how the ISN Fellowship Program helped them to develop their leadership capacities when they returned and helped them spread the knowledge that they had learned from fellow physicians.
Discussion focused amongst other topics, on the further role of ISN to engage governments and put nephrology at the front of the agenda of decision makers within Africa- and beyond.
Congratulations are due to Charles Swanepoel the President of AFRAN, Mignon McCulloch the President of AFPNA, Faical Jarraya the Chair of the Scientific Program Committee, and Gloria Ashuntantang Chair of the Local Organising Committee, President of SOCANEPH and the incoming President of AFRAN. The partnership with ISN is very strong, and will continue to grow!
