Are your kidneys ok?
A staggering 10% of the population worldwide is affected by Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), with over 2 million people worldwide receiving treatment with dialysis or a kidney transplant.
Kidney disease has an impact not only on the patient’s life but also on the lives of those around them – family and friends.
Kidney Day was first celebrated with the aim of educating the world about the importance of kidney health, and reduce the impact of kidney disease and other health conditions associated with them.
“This World Kidney Day we want to stress that with timely identification and appropriate treatment, patients with kidney disease can lead a healthy and successful life and maintain their role and social functioning in line with their priorities, values and goals,” said Vivekanand Jha, president of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and Siu-Fai Lui, President of the International Federation of Kidney Foundations – World Kidney Alliance (IFKF-WKA), which together lead the World Kidney Day (WKD) campaign.
World Kidney Day 2021’s theme is ‘Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere – Living Well with Kidney Disease’ and it aims to increase education and awareness about effective symptom management and patient empowerment, with the ultimate goal of encouraging the meaningful participation in every-day life of people living with kidney disease.
Kidney Day also focuses on donations. Transplant professionals use the day to educate people on the need for organ donation. For more information on organ donation, visit https://www.odf.org.za/
For more on World Kidney Day, see: https://www.worldkidneyday.org/
