The Chronic Kidney Disease in Africa (CKD-Africa) collaboration: lessons from a new pan-African network.
BMJ Glob Health
; 6(8)2021 08.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34348933
ABSTRACT
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health problem, seemingly affecting individuals from low-income and-middle-income countries (LMICs) disproportionately, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the growing evidence pointing to an increasing prevalence of CKD across Africa, there has not been an Africa-wide concerted effort to provide reliable estimates that could adequately inform health services planning and policy development to address the consequences of CKD. Therefore, we established the CKD in Africa (CKD-Africa) Collaboration. To date, the network has curated data from 39 studies conducted in 12 African countries, totalling 35 747 participants, of which most are from sub-Saharan Africa. We are, however, continuously seeking further collaborations with other groups who have suitable data to grow the network. Although many successful research consortia exist, few papers have been published (with none from Africa) detailing the challenges faced and lessons learnt in setting up and managing a research consortium. Drawing on our experience, we describe the steps taken and the key factors required to establish a functional collaborative consortium among researchers in Africa. In addition, we present the challenges we encountered in building our network, how we managed those challenges and the benefit of such a collaboration for Africa. Although the CKD-Africa Collaboration is focused primarily on CKD research, many of the lessons learnt can be applied more widely in public health research in LMICs.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Renal Insufficiency, Chronic
Type of study:
Risk_factors_studies
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
En
Journal:
BMJ Glob Health
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
South Africa