The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Dubai / Emirates Business
Celebrated every year on the second Thursday of March, World Kidney Day (WKD) is the global awareness campaign that aims at increasing awareness of the importance of our kidneys to our health and reducing the impact of kidney disease and its associated problems worldwide.
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a non-communicable disease that affects 1 in 10 people worldwide. While severity can vary, CKD is incurable and causes the patient to need lifelong care. As the incidence of kidney disease escalates, World Kidney Day plays a crucial role in educating the public, the medical community and governments in encouraging prevention and early detection of kidney disease.
850 million people worldwide are now estimated to have kidney diseases from various causes. CKD causes at least 2.4 million deaths per year and is now the sixth fastest growing cause of death.
Acute kidney injury (AKI), an important driver of CKD, affects over 13 million people worldwide and 85% of these cases are found in low and middle-income countries. Around 1.7 million people are estimated to die annually because of AKI.
Despite the growing burden of kidney diseases worldwide, kidney health disparity and inequity are still widespread. CKD and AKI often arise from the social conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age including poverty, gender discrimination, lack of education, occupational hazards and pollution among others.
Transplantation is considered the most cost-effective treatment of CKD. However physical and legal infrastructure requirements and cultural bias against organ donation often present barriers in many countries, making dialysis the default option.
However, while national policies and strategies for non-communicable diseases in general are present in many countries, specific policies directed towards screening, prevention and treatment of kidney diseases are often lacking.
In 2019, in its 14th year of existence, World Kidney Day will be marked on March 14. The campaign sets out to raise awareness of the high and increasing burden of kidney diseases worldwide and the need for strategies for kidney diseases prevention and management.
Early diagnosis, prevention and delay of progression are sustainable options to reduce costs and consequences of kidney diseases for individuals and countries. Yet, barriers to available, accessible, adequate and quality kidney care persist.