Dear ISPD friends and colleagues

I am honoured and excited to become the President of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis. I feel that this is an exciting time for the world of peritoneal dialysis – not only has the advantages of dialysis at home been recognised in high-income countries with many actively promoting its growth but also peritoneal dialysis is now perceived globally as the optimal dialysis modality for low-income countries starting off on the journey of providing dialysis. After the lull of the Covid years, this is the time for the ISPD committees to work together to actively promote PD by providing education, advocacy, enabling research, and supporting teams starting PD in low-income countries. This effort needs the involvement of all professionals involved with providing PD. I am keen to develop much greater nurse involvement in ISPD committees and activities. We also need to identify and support the growth of the PD leaders of the future by developing a young PD professional group for doctors and nurses, and to have an active social media presence.

I have already started reaching out to the chairpersons of committees and Chapters. We need the involvement of all individual committee members to develop and share new ideas. To ensure that there is diversity and global representation in the make-up of committees, we shall be asking members to submit expressions of interest for vacancies – and at the same time contacting regional Council members and Chapter leads to reach out to professionals involved with PD in their areas to encourage them to become involved with ISPD and its activities. We have also joined forces with the International Society of Nephrology to form an International Home Dialysis Consortium. This is in
its infancy and had its first steering committee meeting during the ISPD meeting in Singapore. The aim of this group is to partner the political strengths of the ISN and its links with the World Health Organisation with the ISPD ‘people on the ground’.

It is certainly exciting to be back to in-person meetings and activities after the last 2 years dominated by Covid with increased and stressful clinical work, restricted travel and dominated by virtual meetings and educational activities. I would like to thank Xueqing Yu who has been the ISPD president during this difficult time. Unfortunately, because of on-going Covid restrictions in China, he was not able to join the very successful ISPD meeting in Singapore. We need to thank the Singapore Society of Nephrology for enabling this meeting to happen despite anxieties about attendees’ willingness to travel. Although smaller than originally planned because of on-going restrictions in some countries, the meeting was well attended, had excellent scientific content and enabled people to get back together – and to realise the many advantages of in-person communication and networking.

I look forward to collaborating with and meeting ISPD members and fellow PD enthusiasts over the next 2 years. With a vibrant society, we shall meet together again in September 2024 in Dubai – not only for the 17 th ISPD meeting but also to start the celebrations of the 40 th anniversary year of the formation of ISPD.

Edwina Brown
ISPD President