KEPSA Kidney Paired Exchange logo

KEPSA

South Africa's national kidney paired-exchange platform, turning incompatible living-donor pairs into life-saving matches.

developed in partnership with
the Department of Health and the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Transplantation

How it works

For patients and their donors

Sometimes a friend or family member wants to donate a kidney to a loved one, but tests show they're not a match. KEPSA looks for another pair in exactly the same situation, and swaps donors between the two pairs, so both patients still receive a kidney donated out of love, just via a different donor.

Paired exchange generally leads to better outcomes than staying on dialysis, and is safer than a transplant across a mismatch.

Donor A
Recipient A
Donor B
Recipient B
KEPSA finds a swap
Donor A
Recipient B
Donor B
Recipient A
Donor A isn't a match for Recipient A, and Donor B isn't a match for Recipient B. But Donor A matches Recipient B, and Donor B matches Recipient A, so by swapping donors, both pairs get a compatible kidney.

The barrier today

Most incompatible living-donor pairs hit a dead end. KEPSA removes four common barriers to transplant.

ABO Incompatibility

Donor Medical Contraindications

Limited Awareness & Mistrust

Psychosocial Withdrawal

For nephrologists and transplant coordinators

A coordinator-verified clinical workflow, end to end, from submission to synchronised surgery.

  1. Pair Entered

    Donor and recipient data, plus HLA typing, submitted to KEPSA.

  2. Coordinator Review

    Submission checked against lab results before going live.

  3. Matching

    Algorithm searches for compatible exchange cycles and chains.

  4. Clinical Sign-Off

    Nephrologist and coordinator confirm the match.

  5. Transplant Proceeds

    Crossmatch confirmed, surgery scheduled and synchronised.

See the platform

A look inside the KEPSA platform used by nephrologists and transplant coordinators to manage pairs and run matches.

KEPSA platform dashboard showing active recipients, DRPs, altruistic donors, highly sensitised patients and successful transplants

Dashboard

A live view of recipients, donor-recipient pairs and successful transplants across the programme.

KEPSA platform match runs screen listing optimisation runs with pool size, chains, cycles and status

Match Runs

Every optimisation run, with pool size, chains, cycles found and outcomes, fully auditable.

How to join

KEPSA is for nephrologists and transplant coordinators to enter donor-recipient pairs on behalf of their patients. Before submitting a pair, your centre should confirm:

Information Pamphlet

The full patient and donor information pamphlet (PDF).

Download pamphlet

Programme Poster

A printable clinic poster introducing KEPSA (PDF).

Download poster

Apply to join the program

Ready to register your centre with KEPSA? Tell us a bit about yourself and we'll be in touch with next steps.

I am a
Register now!