Bedside rationing and moral distress in nephrologists in sub- Saharan Africa

Responding to ethical dilemmas in pediatric nephrology: a framework for clinicians in varied practice settings

Around the world, pediatric nephrologists encounter challenging clinical situations when decision-making is difficult. Ethical dilemmas occur when the best treatment choice is uncertain or when the nephrologist is constrained from providing a clearly superior treatment option due to conflict or a scarcity of resources. These include decision-making regarding burdensome treatments, disagreements between the nephrologist and parents or other healthcare providers, and inequities in access to therapies. While useful in providing grounding and a starting point, the traditional models of pediatric decision-making are challenged in pediatric nephrology. These limitations can contribute to further conflict and distress. This review will highlight the key ethical principles in ethical dilemmas encountered in clinical pediatric nephrology. We propose a stepwise decision-making framework, consisting of 5 questions, to respond using an ethically defensible process. Using case-based examples, we show how the framework will guide pediatric nephrologists in different practice settings to recognize an ethical dilemma, analyze it systematically, and reach a morally acceptable solution recognizing that this may vary by geographic location, availability of resources, and local cultural practices.

Lupus and other autoimmune diseases: Epidemiology in the population of African ancestry and diagnostic and management challenges in Africa

Autoimmune diseases are prevalent among people of African ancestry living outside Africa. However, the burden of autoimmune diseases in Africa is not well understood. This article provides a global overview of the current burden of autoimmune diseases in individuals of African descent. It also discusses the major factors contributing to autoimmune diseases in this population group, as well as the challenges involved in diagnosing and managing autoimmune diseases in Africa.

Justifying access to kidney care in low resource and humanitarian settings

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Access to and quality of kidney care is not equitable between or within countries. A natural question is whether global kidney care inequities are always unjustifiable and unfair, or are sometimes due to unavoidable competing or conflicting ethical duties or responsibilities.

RECENT FINDINGS

Health is a fundamental right for all people. People with kidney conditions should have the same claim on this human right as others. Countries have an obligation to progressively fulfil this right and a duty to do so equitably, but global progress has been slow. Countries with limited resources or faced with humanitarian emergencies must set priorities to allocate resources fairly. This process involves trade-offs and often people requiring kidney replacement therapy are left out because of costs, logistics and lack of data. Major burdens are placed on clinicians who grapple between their duty to their patient and professional codes and their responsibility to a 'greater good'. These dilemmas apply also to industry, governments and the international community who must recognize their share in these duties.

SUMMARY

Inequities in kidney health and care must be acknowledged and sustainable and collaborative solutions urgently found such that right to kidney care is progressively upheld for everyone everywhere.

Ethics in humanitarian settings-relevance and consequences for dialysis and kidney care

With the increasing frequency and severity of disasters and the increasing number of patients living with kidney disease, on dialysis and with transplants around the world, the need for kidney care in humanitarian settings is increasing. Almost all humanitarian emergencies pose a threat to kidney health because all treatments are highly susceptible to interruption, and interruption can be deadly. Providing support for people requiring dialysis in humanitarian settings can be complex and is associated with many trade-offs. The global kidney care community must become familiar with the ethics, principles and duties essential to meeting the overarching goals of ethical and effective disaster relief. Ethics principles and values must be considered on the individual, public health and global levels. The wellbeing of a single patient must be considered in the context of the competing needs of many others, and optimal treatment may not be possible due to resource constraints. Public health ethics principles, including considerations of triage and resource allocation, maximization of benefit and feasibility, often become directly relevant at the bedside. Individuals delivering humanitarian relief must be well trained, competent, respectful and professional, while involved organizations need to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards. There may be dissonance between ethical guidance and practical realities in humanitarian settings, which for inexperienced individuals may present significant challenges. Sustaining dialysis care in emergencies brings these issues starkly to the fore. Preparedness for dialysis in emergencies is an ethical imperative that mandates multisectoral stakeholder engagement and action, development of surge response plans, clinical and ethics guidance, and transparent priority setting. This manuscript outlines common ethics challenges and considerations that apply in all humanitarian actions, and illustrates their relevance to kidney care as a whole, using examples of how these may apply to dialysis and kidney disaster relief efforts in humanitarian settings.

Evaluation of the implementation of a "Pediatric Feasibility Assessment for Transplantation" tool in children and adolescents at Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa

BACKGROUND

Kidney transplantation remains the treatment of choice for children with kidney failure (KF). In South Africa, kidney replacement therapy (KRT) is restricted to children eligible for transplantation. This study reports on the implementation of the Paediatric Feasibility Assessment for Transplantation (pFAT) tool, a psychosocial risk score developed in South Africa to support transparent transplant eligibility assessment in a low-resource setting.

METHODS

Single-center retrospective descriptive analysis of children assessed for KRT using pFAT tool from 2015 to 2021.

RESULTS

Using the pFAT form, 88 children (median [range] age 12.0 [1.1 to 19.0] years) were assessed for KRT. Thirty (34.1%) children were not listed for KRT, scoring poorly in all domains, and were referred for supportive palliative care. Fourteen of these 30 children (46.7%) died, with a median survival of 6 months without dialysis. Nine children were reassessed and two were subsequently listed. Residing >300 km from the hospital (p = .009) and having adherence concerns (p = .003) were independently associated with nonlisting. Of the 58 (65.9%) children listed for KRT, 40 (69.0%) were transplanted. One-year patient and graft survival were 97.2% and 88.6%, respectively. Only one of the four grafts lost at 1-year posttransplant was attributed to psychosocial issues.

CONCLUSIONS

Short-term outcomes among children listed using the pFAT form are good. Among those nonlisted, the pFAT highlights specific psychosocial/socioeconomic barriers, over which most children themselves have no power to change, which should be systemically addressed to permit eligibility of more children and save lives.

A retrospective cohort study on the cost-effectiveness analysis of kidney transplantation compared to dialysis in Cameroon: evidence for policy

Introduction

chronic kidney disease affects one in ten adults in Cameroon. Haemodialysis was the only renal replacement therapy (for adults) in Cameroon and its sub-region until November 10, 2021. Thereafter through May 2022, the Yaoundé General Hospital successfully completed four living-donor kidney transplants. This paper examines policy implications.

Methods

medical records of cohorts of kidney failure patients who started haemodialysis at Yaoundé General Hospital in 2012 (n=106) and 2017 (n=118) were abstracted retrospectively through 2021 and their survival analyzed with Microsoft Excel and Kaplan-Meier curves. Using hospital data, the literature, and price indexes, the annual medical cost per patient of dialysis and living-donor kidney transplantation in 2022 prices was derived.

Results

the 9.5-year survival rate for the 2012 cohort was 11% and the 5-year rate for the 2017 cohort was 18%. Annual haemodialysis cost per patient averaged $17,681 (26.5% from households and 73.5% from government). Initial transplantation costs averaged $10,530 per patient, all borne by the government. Under the brand-drug option, first-year transplantation follow-up costs $19,070 (4% for laboratory and 96% for drugs).

Conclusion

annually, haemodialysis in Cameroon costs per patient 12 times the country's average income ($1,537), driven especially by the costs of equipment purchase, maintenance, and consumables. Cameroon's initial cost of transplantation is lower than in other African countries. Generic drugs could lower annual follow-up costs by 89%. If Cameroon could achieve long-term survival with generic drugs after kidney transplantation, that modality would become a reasonable option for selected kidney failure patients (e.g. younger and without other comorbidities).

Chronic Kidney Disease Burden in Low-Resource Settings: Regional Perspectives

The burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has increased exponentially worldwide but more so in low- and middle-income countries. Specific risk factors in these regions expose their populations to an increased risk of CKD, such as genetic risk with APOL1 among populations of West African heritage or farmers with CKD of unknown etiology that spans various countries across several continents to immigrant/indigenous populations in both low- and high-income countries. Low- and middle-income economies also have the double burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases, both contributing to the high prevalence of CKD. The economies are characterized by low health expenditure, sparse or nonexistent health insurance and welfare programs, and predominant out-of-pocket spending for medical care. This review highlights the challenges in populations with CKD from low-resource settings globally and explores how health systems can help ameliorate the CKD burden.

Social, political and legal determinants of kidney health: Perspectives from lower- and middle-income countries with a focus on India

The social determinants of health (SDoH) are the non-medical factors that influence kidney health outcomes directly or indirectly in a substantial manner and include conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age. Many such challenges in lower- and middle- income countries have an unfavourable impact on kidney health. These conditions potentially influence economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies, and political systems. In addition, many political and legal factors also determine and modify the ultimate outcome in patients with kidney disease. Legal factors that ensure universal health care, promote gender and racial equality, prevent malpractices and regulate strict laws in the field of kidney transplantation are the paramount determinants for the provision of necessary kidney care. Converging lines of evidence have supported the impact of social variables such as socioeconomic resources, social inclusion, housing conditions, educational attainment, and financial status on kidney health, particularly affect vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and result in challenges in kidney care delivery. Furthermore, the climate is an important SDoH that plays a crucial role in the occurrence, prevalence, and progression of kidney diseases as highlighted by the presence of higher prevalence of chronic kidney disease in hot tropical countries. The rising incidence of water and vector-borne diseases causing acute kidney injury is another consequence of disruptive environmental and climate change which is detrimental to kidney health. Political risk factors such as conflict also have a devastating influence on kidney health. The relationship between SDoH and kidney health outcomes requires more clarity. Gaps in the current knowledge need to be identified to inform the development of appropriate interventions to address upstream socio-economic risk factors for kidney disease.