International aid and medical practice in the less-developed world: Doing it right, what can renal organizations learn?

The delivery of health care in poorer countries is reliant on international aid organizations. This article will focus on international aid and medical practice in the developing world. It will review the general issues, practices, and problems with international aid in the medical arena and will then focus on international aid, kidney detection, and prevention programs. The article will analyze some of the existing and successful organizations and their initiatives. The first part of this article will analyze such aspects as: the access of existing resources and available aid projects; the establishment of contact with international aid projects; the access of funds for the development of the project and, once it is established, the management of those funds; the planning of projects; and the role of research in international aid and medical practice both as a means of accessing resources and of managing the project. The second part of the article will look more specifically at issues in nephrology and international aid. The focus will be on current programs in nephrology and the critical appraisal of some existing programs. The last part will focus specifically on practical tasks which are needed when accessing international aid for medical projects. It will draw on the experiences of various programs and then outline suggested phases one should consider when establishing aid projects in order to best implement them. Kidney groups with intentions to deliver prevention and management strategies to developing countries need to learn from the experiences of existing international aid organizations and chronic kidney disease programs. © 2005 by the International Society of Nephrology.