What difference did you make through your Sister Center partnership?

The aim of the SRC was to develop a CKD prevention program and to build capacity. The biggest achievement is that we reached that goal. The Viet Duc is now a training center for other hospitals in Northern Vietnam. A lot of successful activities took place like an epidemiology survey, CME (in Renal Pathology, Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation), training courses in Japan (for doctors, technicians, and nurses) and scientific meetings. The number of kidney biopsy done in Viet Duc at the start of the SRC was of 50 cases/year, increased to more than 300 cases/year at the end of the partnership.

What does the future look like?

Practice of precise and early diagnosis of renal diseases by young Vietnamese nephrologists and pathologists trained in SRC is promising. The program developed and strengthened teamwork for Vietnamese health professionals and provided training opportunities and qualifications for young doctors. This further promotes the quality of medical care and thus attenuates the steep increase of CKD patients in Vietnam.