Jackelina Pando Kelly

Graduated from “San Martin de Porres University- Medical School in Lima – Peru  in 2000.Joined the SPR training in Paediatrics through the RCPI in 2005.Completed a Masters in Medical Science  at National University Galway in 2008.Between 2008-2010 did a Fellowship in  Paediatric Infectious Diseases  at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. During her Fellowship, she conducted clinical work with children with Infectious Diseases in  Nepal  and  South Africa.In 2009 obtained a grant from the International Society of Nephrology to run the first Screening Program in Children  for  prevention  of chronic renal  disease and hypertension  in the Peruvian Andes, which star

High Altitude Renal Disease A complex interaction of different factors seems to be responsible for the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Populations that live at high altitudes such asthe Andes in Peru are exposed to many of these factors, such as low birth weight, malnutrition and chronic hypoxia which have recently been recognized as a factor responsible for renal injury. Kidney disease burden is increasing in developing countries such as Peru, and has become a serious problem for health service providers. In 2010, in collaboration with the Department of Nephrology at the Arzobispo Loayza Hospital and the Peruvian University Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru, and aided by a grant provided by the International Society of Nephrology, we started the first screening programme in children for prevention of chronic renal disease and hypertension in the Peruvian Andes, following some pilot studies conducted in the Andes in Peru, that showed increased urinary abnormalities in population living at high altitude. The screening is taking place in the rural town of Llamellin at 3,200 meters above sea level. So far we have screened over 800 children using urinary dipsticks looking for proteinuria and micraltests looking for microalbuminuria. Those children with abnormal findings are being investigated with renal ultrasounds and creatinine. The children with persistent abnormal results are being monitored closely, and some of them have started treatment with ACE inhibitors. Our aim is to slow the progression of CKD by early intervention after diagnosis, reducing therefore the need for replacement therapy. We believe that community-based mass-screening, targeting populations at high risk for developing CKD, such as the Andean communities in Peru, should prove to be cost- effective in the long term, and may work as a pilot screening model that could lead to a systematic screening programme for renal disease applicable to similar communities in t

I am currently involved in teaching Final Medical Students at UCC who are enrolled in the module CP5300, Principles and Practice of Paediatrics and Child Health.As part of my outreach activities, each summer I teach at a local nursing and midwifery school while doing clinical work at a missionary hospital in the rural town of Chacas, Peru.