Paediatric nephrology in countries with limited resources

Abstract

This paper summarises a symposium concerned with the provision of care for children with kidney disease in developing countries. Better organisation of services is required to prevent waste of resources, with the emphasis on team work between professionals, shared care with local health care personnel remote from the paediatric nephrology unit and good communications. Families need to be educated and provided with appropriate information so that they can care for their child at home. Technology should be simple and robust and the staff using it should be fully trained to maintain it in use. Therapies should be definitive where possible, because long-term supervision of treatment is often difficult. Effective but inexpensive medications should be used where possible. Twinning of developing and richer countries is valuable to transfer technology, help with training and assist in care through the development of personal contacts.