ISN President David Harris and President-Elect Vivek Jha traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia in late November 2018 to officially launch a national initiative with the Indonesian Society of Nephrology (PERNEFRI) to improve access to integrated kidney care throughout Indonesia. During this two-day trip, David and Vivek first met with nephrologists from PERNEFRI to align on national nephrology needs...
ISN headed to Samoa recently to begin developing partnerships with the medical community on the island. The visit revealed how strengthening the ties between ISN, the Asia Pacific Society of Nephrology (ASPN), the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology (ANZSN) and the National Kidney Foundation Samoa (NKFS) provides valuable training to local doctors...
Once every two years, ISN Regional Boards are tasked to organise a ‘workshop’ within the context of one of their regional meetings, with the aim of providing outreach to unaware nephrologists of ISN programs and activities in the region. The workshops have taken many formats; most often, they consist in open meetings where ISN...
In response to the uneven state of nephrology care in China, ISN Regional Training Centers are responding to the educational needs of local medical communities. Ming-hui Zhao, ISN's regional board chair for North East Asia, explains how regional collaboration is key to improving treatment for patients. In Beijing and Shanghai, care is advancing while in...
Some 25 participants from across Latin America gathered in Cartagena at the ISN Regional Workshop to share knowledge and discuss the major issues the nephrology community in Latin America is facing in 2018. Presidents of ISN, the Latin America Society of Nephrology and Hypertension (SLANH) and the Colombian Society of Nephrology were also present to...
In March, 91 global leaders in nephrology, other renal healthcare workers and healthcare policymakers met at the second Global Kidney Health Summit in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to develop a strategy to address the unmet needs of patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) around the world over the next 5 to 10 years. ‘We need...
Over 30 doctors from different countries in Africa recently gathered in Cape Town to attend the Renal Skills Workshop organized by Professor Mignon McCulloch, from February 19 and 23, 2018 at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Less than a week after the course, thanks to skills acquired during the peritoneal...
Last week, I received a very warm welcome from the Bangladesh Renal Association and the Kidney Foundation of Bangladesh in Dhaka. Great to see nephrology in Bangladesh on the move, under determined and effective leadership! It was a pleasure presenting the 2017 South Asia Pioneer Award to Harun Ur Rashid alongside the Director General of Health...
Saving Young Lives (SYL) recently sent a pediatric nephrologist and a nurse from the University of Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) on a month’s visit to the University of Cotonou (Benin). It helped the Congolese doctors and nurses learn more the latest catheter insertion techniques so they can set up a peritoneal dialysis...
The ISN Sister Renal Center Program between Sudan and Brazil has been particularly active recently. Two nephrologists and a renal nurse from renal institutes across Brazil brought different perspectives to a training course for local doctors at Soba University Hospital in Sudan. The visiting team included Roberto Pecoits-Filho, from Catholic University of Parana (Brazil), Viviane...
On December 9, 2017, the ISN North and East Asia regional workshop was held during the second International Congress of Chinese Nephrologists (ICCN) and the Taiwan Society of Nephrology's (TSN) annual meeting. The workshop was chaired by Ming-Hui Zhao and Chih-Wei Yang, the current Chair and Deputy-Chair of this region. ISN Program Chair John Feehally opened...
ISN was well represented at the ISN-EMAN Update Congress in Nephrology, held in Dubai from December 13 to 16, 2017. The organisation was flawless, under the leadership of Mona Al-Rukhaimi, Congress President, President of the Emirates Medical Association Nephrology Society (EMAN) and previous Chair of the ISN Middle East Regional Board and Executive Committee...
Every year, 72 doctors from around the world spend 12 weeks in East Africa on the Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene course run by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The key lessons for the students are the role of early detection and prevention of kidney disease rather than how to...
Following an earthquake in the Kermanshah province of Iran on November 12, 2017, the Iranian Society of Nephrology was in close contact with two local nephrologists from the trauma unit in Kermanshah – sending protocols for managing patients with crush injuries and applying fluid therapy. "There are no reported cases of acute hemodialysis until now,”...
Last week, the 13th Balkan Cities Association of Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation and Artificial Organs (BANTAO) congress in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina was a great example of the growing enthusiasm between members of a global nephrology community working together to improve kidney health. It definitively made for a successful event from the ISN perspective. The ISN...
The 14th Annual Scientific Conference of the Kenya Renal Association was my chance to dive further into the issue of End-Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD) and talk about ways of improving global access to integrated ESKD. In Kenya, a very low percentage of patients are treated with peritoneal dialysis (PD). The Government is gradually recognizing the...
On September 6, 2017 hurricane Irma’s eye passed over Gorda, Jost Van Dyke and Tortola, the three most populated islands within the British Virgin Islands (BVI), affecting approximately 30,000 people, of which there are 55 dialysis patients. The nearest British territory, 100 miles to the East, was similarly affected. In the US Virgin Islands...
Around 400 delegates, mostly from the five major regions of Northwest China as well as nephrologists from Tajikistan, Pakistan and Kazakhstan, took part in the Silk-Road Forum of Kidney Disease, from August 8 to 10, 2017 in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China. An ISN endorsed event, the meeting was organised by the National Clinical Research Center of...
Do you recognize the importance of bridging gaps in kidney health care across India? Are you seeking specific training to respond to the needs of your patients? With help from American Nephrologists of Indian Origin (ANIO), nephrologists of the Indian diaspora, and thanks to a partnership with the Indian Society of Nephrology, the ISN-ANIO India Committee...
The Australian & New Zealand Society of Nephrology (ANZSN) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop its partnership with ISN and provide co-funding for the ISN Programs. Both Societies have expressed their mutual commitment to advancing nephrology in the Asia Pacific region. The Australian and New Zealand Society (ANZSN) promotes and encourages the...
