Several lines of evidence point to renal disease becoming an important complication of human immunodeficiency virus infection and therapy. The spectrum of renal disease in the HIV patient has dramatically changed with HIV associated nephropathy becoming less prevalent and chronic kidney disease [CKD] becoming an everyday concern parallel to the prevalence of renal risk factors such as aging, hypertension and diabetes. Different studies have shown that the prevalence of CKD defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate below 60 ml/min/1.73m2 is around 10% in HIV patients. CKD is associated with increased mortality, a new concept that has emerged in the past years putting CKD in the top 5 critical cardiovascular risk factors. Evaluating individual renal function in HIV patients allows better care in prevention of cardiovascular events as well as initiation of nephro-protection strategies in order to slow down the loss of renal function and alleviate or postpone the need for dialysis. Since HIV patients also receive chronic multi-therapy, evaluating renal function is also mandatory to allow drug dosage adaptation.