The Professor Donal O’Donoghue Global Kidney Policy Forum
The Professor Donal O’Donoghue Global Kidney Policy Forum (PDOGKPF) is a yearly high-level meeting organized by the ISN at each World Congress of Nephrology (WCN). It brings together key decision-makers and stakeholders to address the burden of kidney diseases in a specific country or region and to share strategies for prevention and improved management of the disease at both the regional and global levels. The Forum is named after the late Professor Donal O’Donoghue, former Chair of the Advocacy Working Group, who tragically died in January 2021.
The upcoming Professor Donal O’Donoghue Global Kidney Policy Forum, will take place at the World Congress of Nephrology with a focus on North and East Asia.
Previous Editions
The Global Kidney Policy Forum 2025: Focus on South-East Asia
With a focus on health policies and programs for kidney disease detection and management, the 2025 Professor Donal O’Donoghue Global Kidney Policy Forum (PDOGKPF) spotlighted the growing burden of kidney disease in South-East Asia and discussed strategies to prevent and manage it locally and globally under the theme “Bridging Gaps and Building Sustainable Solutions.
Check out these two conceptual images capturing the key themes and ideas discussed at GKPF 2025.
The Global Kidney Policy Forum 2024: Focus on Latin America
The last Global Kidney Policy Forum: Focus on Latin America took place at WCN’24 in April 2024 and focused on the challenges, and opportunities, related to kidney health in Latin America, proposing concrete policy actions to improve the delivery of and access to kidney care.
The Global Kidney Policy Forum 2023: Focus on Oceania and South East Asia.
The Global Kidney Policy Forum 2023 was the fifth meeting in an ongoing series of ISN PDOGKPF. An important outcome of the first policy forum, which took place in Mexico City, Mexico, in April 2017, was the creation of the Recommendations to Global Kidney Health, developed by stakeholders to address the growing burden of kidney disease worldwide. The recommendations were designed to guide future efforts to reduce the global burden of kidney disease and underpin the work of each Global Kidney Policy Forum, freshly updated in 2023. Speakers and participants at the 2023 forum, held as part of the World Congress of Nephrology 2023 program, addressed key kidney-related challenges affecting the South-East Asian region and proposed concrete solutions to deliver best-practice kidney care. The program highlighted the importance of continued commitment to the adherence to and advancement of the Recommendations to improve kidney care.
Speakers and participants at the 2022 virtual forum, held as part of the World Congress of Nephrology 2022, addressed key kidney related challenges affecting the South-East Asian region and proposed concrete solutions to deliver best-practice kidney care.
The Global Kidney Policy Forum 2021: Focus on North America and the Caribbean
Speakers and participants at the 2021 Virtual Forum, held as part of Virtual World Congress of Nephrology 2021, addressed key kidney-related challenges affecting the English-speaking Caribbean nations, Canada, and the United States of America, proposing concrete solutions to deliver best-practice kidney care. The program highlighted the importance of continued commitment to the adherence to and advancement of the 12 Recommendations to improve kidney care.
Global Kidney Policy Forum 2019: Focus on Oceania and South-East Asia
Building on the first Policy Forum, which took place in Mexico City in 2017, participants in the 2019 Forum in Melbourne addressed equitable access to kidney care, including the prevention, detection and management in Australia, New Zealand, and South East Asian and Pacific Island countries. The program highlighted lessons learned since Mexico, outlined the regional burden of kidney disease, reviewed the quality and acceptability of kidney care from the perspectives of patients, healthcare providers and ministries of health, discussed estimates of the economic and financial burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and kidney diseases and illustrated the intricate nature of NCD co-morbidities and their shared risk factors, which are often exacerbated by social inequalities and scarce resources.
Global Kidney Policy Forum 2017: Focus on Latin America
The Forum in Mexico emphasized the importance of kidney disease as a global health priority, particularly in Latin America. It took a concrete step forward as regards policy and advocacy, framing the discussion on how to improve kidney health in Latin America and beyond.
Speakers including health officials, kidney health advocates, nephrologists, and researchers shared experiences and lessons learned from public health efforts to improve kidney health. They reflected on strategies to improve
prevention, detection, diagnosis and early treatment of kidney disease, and emphasized challenges of achieving equitable access to renal replacement therapy. Finally, participants at the Forum committed to a measurable set of commitments and actions aimed at curbing kidney disease.
You can download the PDOGKPF’24 agenda here.
