ABSTRACT
The global rise in the number of patients with end-stage renal failure (ESRF) requiring renal replacement therapy constitutes a major medical, social, and economic challenge. The Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative of the National Kidney Foundation in the United States has released guidelines for the diagnosis and classification of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The milieu of chronic parasitic, bacterial, and viral infections results in an increased prevalence of glomerulonephritis (GN), hospital admissions for renal disease and nephrotic syndrome. The susceptibility, initiation, and progression of CKD are all associated with risk factors. CKD including diabetic nephropathy often clusters within families suggestive of genetic or familial predisposition. Overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, poor nutrition, and chronic infections are considered to be factors in the high prevalence of chronic GN in developing countries. Other renal disorders that are important causes of ESRF in sub-Saharan Africa are lupus nephritis, renal calculi, chronic interstitial nephritis, sickle cell nephropathy, renal tuberculosis, malarial, and Human Immunodeficiency virus-associated nephropathy.
