Pmn 531: Breakfast

The sterling work of Samoa’s National Kidney Foundation could help stem the tide of a dangerous epidemic in the island nation, University of Otago research shows. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is recognised as Samoa’s fourth major cause of death, placing a heavy burden on the Samoan people and its health budget. The National Kidney Foundation of Samoa (NKFS) has provided a largely government funded haemodialysis service in the country since 2005, but demand for treatment has risen rapidly in recent years.  That research, published this month in Lancet Regional Health, has seen University of Otago Pacific Research Fellow Dr Malama Tafuna’i study the data collected from the NKFS since its inception. Dr Tafuna’i is an Otago-trained GP who usually resides in Samoa but is currently based in Dunedin completing a PhD under the supervision of Professor Rob Walker and Assoc Professor Faumuina Faafetai Sopoaga, with the Department of Medicine and the Centre for Pacific Health.See omnystudio.