The Division of Nephrology was accredited as a Regional Training Centre for the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) for a period of five years. The accreditation runs from 2021 to 2026, and at the end of the term there will be an opportunity to reapply to renew the status.
The ISN has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, and it aims to advance kidney health worldwide by means of medical training and research.
"This accreditation will further assist the division and the Tygerberg Hospital to play a leading role in developing nephrology in Africa," says Professor Razeen Davids, head of the Division of Nephrology at Stellenbosch University's (SU) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and Tygerberg Hospital.
This division serves patients in the public sector with kidney disease in half of the Western Cape province. This includes patients with the following kidney diseases and conditions:
- acute or chronic kidney disease
- electrolyte and acid-base disorders
- severe hypertension
- poisonings requiring dialysis treatment
The division manages about 150 transplant patients and about 140 patients on chronic dialysis. It also offers dialysis to patients with acute kidney injury in several of Tygerberg Hospital's wards and units. Every year the division does approximately 6 000 acute and chronic dialysis procedures, and between 160 and 180 kidney biopsies.
The division aims to improve access to kidney-replacement therapy and to dialysis to patients within the state sector, and to this end has also established public-private initiatives.
The training of nephrologists, both from within South Africa and Africa as a whole, remains a high priority for the division, as does ongoing research and publication in this field.
Davids mentions that often in other African countries, there are no formal training programmes for doctors wanting to specialise in nephrology.
"Our trainees maintain a high success rate in the Certificate in Nephrology examinations of the South African Colleges of Medicine," says Davids. "Several of the trainees of the division now lead renal registries in their own countries, notably Vincent Boima (Ghana), Jonathan Wala (Kenya) and Kenneth Kapembwa (Zambia)."
The aims of the ISN in giving this accreditation
The ISN aims to establish and develop the study of nephrology in low- and middle-income countries, and it hopes that the SU Division of Nephrology will continue to promote ISN activities, and become an even greater hub of training and research within Africa.
This accreditation will mean the following:
- The ISN will promote the visibility of the division on a regional and a global scale by means of its website, other communication channels and its Fellowship and Sister Centres Programmes.
- The division will be given priority consideration when applying as a collaborator or host centre for support by the ISN Grants Programmes.
- It will give the division permission to use the ISN logo on its letterhead and other communications, and to call itself an ISN Regional Training Centre.
"There is no direct funding from the ISN to the Division of Nephrology, but students from other African countries wanting to specialise in nephrology have often been funded by the ISN," says Davids.
In return for this accreditation, the ISN asks that the Division of Nephrology do the following:
- Host fellows - the ISN provides up to one year of financial support to fellows.
- Hold educational meetings and workshops on regionally relevant topics.
- Share knowledge and expertise via the ISN Educational Ambassadors or Continuing Medical Education Programmes.
- Support emerging centres from low-resource areas through the Sister Centres Programmes.
- Contribute to the ISN Academy – either by developing educational materials or contributing to webinars.
- Develop and engage in advocacy activities and collaborations with local and regional authorities.
"This accreditation is really just a formal acknowledgment by the ISN of the contribution we have been making to kidney care in Africa, and hope to make in the future," says Davids.
