Regional Activities

Meeting with local stakeholders in Jakarta for Indonesia project

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...

Stepping up nephrology care in Samoa

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...

ISN Latin America Regional Board tries new regional board workshop approach in Cartagena

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...

China’s regional training centers partner to help each other

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...

Regional Workshop in Colombia focuses on connecting Latin America’s nephrologists

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...

Second ISN Global Kidney Health Summit takes place in UAE

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...

Saving Young Lives – spreading hope and positivity!

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...

Celebration and progress in Bangladesh

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...

SYL training comes to the rescue of young AKI patients in Africa

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...

Brazilian nephrology team visits Sudan

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...