Launch of ISN-Swiss-Cameroon Program
The International Society of Nephrology (ISN), the Swiss Society of Nephrology (SSN), and the Cameroon Society of Nephrology (CASONEPH), launched a new partnership earlier this year to establish a joint program of the ISN, Yaoundé 1 University, and Geneva University.
Dr James Tataw and Professor Patrick Saudan, from Geneva University, reported a successful start to the collaboration having spent 10 days in Yaoundé in November in order to launch the partnership between Geneva University, the Yaoundé 1 University, the nephrology units of Yaoundé General and University Teaching Hospitals, and the Cameroon Society of Nephrology. They met staff at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the Yaoundé 1 University, the Yaoundé General Hospital, and Yaoundé University teaching Hospital.
Progress has been made in the following areas:
- Medical education: From November 1, 2020, a Fellow from Cameroon will begin a six-month residency to train in the maintenance of hemodialysis/peritoneal dialysis and acquire expertise in ultrasound procedures dedicated to hemodialysis in the nephrology unit of Geneva. Two further residencies are expected in November 2021 and 2022.
- Clinical practice: The hemodialysis unit in Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital takes care of between 120-140 patients who are dialyzed twice a week. Talks were presented to the dialysis staff and a metric record was established. A handheld ultrasound transducer with vascular and cardiac probes was purchased for the dialysis unit.
- A clinical research open-label trial assessing the interest of bicarbonate supplementation in addition to local standard care in pre-dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease was initiated in the nephrology units of Yaoundé General and University Teaching Hospitals: a donation of sodium bicarbonate has been made, a group of seven nephrologists have been designated to recruit from their outpatient clinics, and volunteer doctors will undertake the data management process. It’s planned that patients will be enrolled for the study from January 2020.
