Renal Failure

Prevention and Early Detection of CKD in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges, Opportunities and Recent Developments

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains a public health issue, with projections indicating an increasing prevalence over the next ten years, particularly in Africa. The morbidity and mortality associated with CKD, as well as the associated burden, place this non-communicable disease at the top of the list of health emergencies, particularly in Africa, where there is a lack of diagnostic tests and medications to slow the progression of CKD to end-stage kidney disease, as well as a lack of Kidney replacement therapies.

In the absence of effective treatment for advanced kidney disease, the most important action to reduce the burden of CKD is to prevent and detect it at an early stage. Identification of the high CKD risk population could help to reduce the associated burden. The development of point-of-care test for creatinine and albumin-to-creatinine ratio could increase Africa's capacity to diagnose CKD patients at different levels of healthcare and in different regions of Africa, particularly in community-based populations. Some particularities of Africa, such as communicable diseases like HIV, the use of non-secured medicinal plants, APOL-1 genetic polymorphism and genetic diseases like sickle cell anaemia, impact the prevalence of CKD in Africa. The recent adoption of CKD as a priority by the WHO gives the kidney health community a stronger voice with which to advocate for greater involvement from different African governments in the development of kidney health coverage.

Improved awareness of risk factors in the African population is key to understanding the best method or formula to evaluate kidney function, both in Africa in general and in specific patient groups, such as those living with HIV, patients with malnutrition, and patients with sickle cell disease.

This Article Collection seeks to showcase the importance of prevention and early detection of CKD in sub-Saharan Africa, to slow its progression to end-stage kidney disease. We welcome articles on the following topics:

• The prevalence and associated factors of chronic kidney disease in Africa, particularly among specific populations such as HIV and sickle cell anaemia patients.
• The prevalence of Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Africa
• Screening for chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Africa using point-of-care creatinine testing
• Performance of the eGFR equation in estimating kidney function in African populations and subpopulations such as those with HIV or sickle cell anaemia
• The distribution and clinical manifestations of renal disease in Africa, both in general and among specific populations such as those with HIV or sickle cell anaemia
• The World Kidney Day campaign

Article Collection key terms:

• Chronic kidney disease
• Point of care of creatine
• Albumine-creatinine ratio
• Screening
• sub-Saharan Africa

Article Collection Guest Advisors:

Dr Yannick Nlandu is a nephrologist. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He is currently a lecturer at the University of Kinshasa. His areas of interest include infections and kidney diseases, acute haemodialysis and interventional nephrology. He has published more than 50 national and international papers in peer-reviewed medical journals and is a reviewer for many nephrology journals.

Dr. Philip Makupa is a Tanzanian physician with over ten years of clinical practice experience and is currently serving at the Kilimanjaro Regional Referral Hospital. He has published in the field of nephrology and has participated in seven research studies in recent years, focusing on HIV and diabetes.

­­All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisors for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member).

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 26th October 2026.

Please contact Rebecca Kearns at [email protected] with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Please be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system.

The Guest Advisors for this Article Collection have declared no conflict of interests