Back from a great visit to South East Asia!

At the very end of August, I was at the congress of the South African Renal Society. South African members of ISN really have made a remarkable contribution to ISN’s work in Africa – no fewer than 28 ISN fellows from other sub-Saharan African countries have been trained in South Africa, and now have returned, and it was as always a great pleasure to meet several of them from different countries at the congress. I am very pleased that SARS is considering collective membership of ISN, and of course we look forward together to the World Congress of Nephology in Cape Town in March 2015.

The next week, I was at the Congress of the Brazilian Society of Nephrology, one of ISN’s largest affiliated societies with more than 2000 members. I had the opportunity to talk about ISN at the opening ceremony, and also met with ISN leaders to discuss how ISN and BSN can work more closely together to increase Brazilian membership of ISN and strengthen nephrology in South America.

And now I am on my way back to Europe from my first ever ISN trip to South East Asia – a brief look in on the ISPD congress in Kuala Lumpur, and then on to a series of CMEs and site visits in Laos and Vietnam. I was part of a very experienced ISN team which reminded me of the extraordinary commitment some of our ISN leaders make to our efforts in the developing world. Bill Couser (ISN GO Chair) and Norbert Lameire (ISN GO CME Chair) have been travelling the world on behalf of ISN for years with relentless energy. They had been to Vietnam before and could confirm my impression of the steady progress in nephrology in both countries in challenging circumstances. Also with us were Kriang Tungsunga and Peter Kerr (co-chair and chair of the GO Regional Committee) who do such a terrific job in encouraging and supporting nephrologists in the region.

Once again, I was encouraged by the evidence of success of the ISN GO Programs. Former ISN Fellows, current ISN Sister Renal Centers, Educational Ambassador visits, as well as a series of CMEs over recent years are all key to what is happening in both Laos and Vietnam.

And we had the opportunity to meet the Ministers of Health in both countries to continue to make the case for increased attention on kidney disease. We received a courteous welcome from both ministers, and it is clear that it is the sustained commitment of ISN to nephrology in their countries which they particularly appreciate. We have shown that we are not just transient visitors. Through our ISN GO Programs we have a long term interest in the growth of nephrology in their part of the world.