Ilana Webber (lecturer at the Children's Nursing Development Unit, UCT), Minette Coetzee (Director of the Children's Nursing Development Unit, UCT), Gráinne Walsh (Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, UK/Honorary Senior Lecturer, UCT), Jessie Mtetwa (Renal and palliative care nurse) and Sanya Naidoo (Operational Manager at the Red War Memorial Children’s Hospital renal ward) had the great privilege to be part of the first nursing workshop at the first ever International Paediatric Nephrology Association (IPNA) conference in Africa.

It was a hybrid workshop with some face-to-face participants, but majority online. It was also the only hybrid session for the entire conference to offer greater accessibility to nurses who were not able to attend in person. The conference theme was ‘Through the ages’ and therefore apt that we followed the journey of a child through the life stages with kidney disease; from diagnosis as an infant, developing chronic kidney disease (CKD), decisions between kidney replacement therapy (KRT) and conservative management through to transplantation and transitioning as an adolescent to adult services. The workshop ended with hearing the lived experience of a current patient and her family at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital which brought some rich insights and discussion. To our great delight, there was lots of interaction as nurses from 13 countries across the world shared their experiences.

The next IPNA conference is going to be held in Kyoto, Japan from 9 to 13 March 2027 – see you there!