A study undertaken during 2015 at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), Blantyre, Malawi demonstrated that 20% of general medical admissions over a three-month period had evidence of kidney disease. Outcome (hospital mortality) in these patients was significantly worse than those with normal renal function.

At the end of March this year, following on from the World Congress of Nephrology (WCN) in Cape Town, we held an Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) symposium in Blantyre, Malawi. This was attended by 100 delegates (nurses, clinical officers and doctors) who work in hospitals and health centers around the Central and Southern region of Malawi.

In July 2014, a new hemodialysis unit opened in Blantyre, Malawi. Blantyre is in southern Malawi, not far from the border with Mozambique. With a population of over 600,000 it is the country’s second biggest city behind the capital Lilongwe, and is a major financial centre. Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) is a tertiary referral centre for the entire Southern region in Malawi with over 1000 inpatient beds. There are around 30 medical admissions per day with over 200 general medical inpatients. The burden of kidney disease in both medical and non-medical patients is large.