Presenting the Kidney Collection survey
The team behind the ISN Kidney Collection have shared some first facts about this survey that assesses how care is delivered and decisions are made when providing dialysis and end-stage kidney disease care in low- and middle-income countries.
133 individuals from 39 low- and middle-income countries took part. They helped collect and collate 95 original documents and guidelines from 14 countries in the areas of dialysis eligibility, procurement, care and outcomes monitoring.
Following the ISN Global Kidney Health Summit in Sharjah, we want to see how results can support us to achieve dialysis targets in resource-limited settings and know the conditions in other countries.
According to Roberto Percoits-Filho and Valerie Luyckx: ‘in the vast majority of the countries captured in this survey, dialysis was partially or totally funded by the government, but out of pocket expenses were required in a large proportion of the countries (47%).’
In many of these cases, these expenses, including dialysis, vascular access, medication and laboratory testing, often prohibited dialysis being available to all who required it.
Many respondents provided concrete examples of the challenges they have faced and priority needs in their environments. Lack of resources or trained personnel were perceived as major barriers to improve outcomes by most responders.
In the coming months, the ISN aims to provide feedback to the respondents and produce relevant guidance to support a comprehensive an sustainable approach to the management of patients with ESKD in LMIC.
