ABSTRACT
The development of chronic diseases including kidney disease is a lifelong process beginning with attention to birth weight and maternal care to avoid low birth weight. Chronic kidney disease is part of the growing global prevalence of noncommunicable or chronic diseases. Epidemiological analyses were presented at the Bellagio Conference revealing the growing worldwide inequity in renal replacement therapy for the millions of patients with end-stage renal disease and the need for early detection and prevention in order to avert the global threat of pandemic vascular disease. Commission on Global Advancement of Nephrology is planning a volunteer program in which nephrologists who are born in developing countries but are living and working in the Western countries will be encouraged to spend perhaps 1 month a year in their country of origin or in a country with the same language to activate specific teaching programs in undergraduate and postgraduate schools.
