World Kidney Day 2022
World Kidney Day 2022 - Kidney Health for All
Bridge the knowledge gap to better kidney care
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common and harmful: 1 out of 10 adult people worldwide have it, and if left untreated it can be deadly. While early detection allows for disease care and management to help prevent morbidity and mortality, and improve cost effectiveness and sustainability, kidney disease related mortality continues to increase yearly and is projected to be the 5th leading cause of death by 2040. A persistent and ongoing CKD knowledge gap exists, one that is demonstrable at all levels of healthcare;
- The community – Obstacles to better kidney health understanding include the complex nature of kidney disease information, low baseline awareness, limited health literacy, limited availability of CKD information, and lack of readiness to learn. (WKD 2020).
- The healthcare worker – Another barrier to overcome in order to ensure greater awareness is a more focused education of physicians, as they are in charge of the patients’ medical condition. (WKD 2009)/ (WKD 2021)
- The public health policy makers – Finally, CKD is a global, public health threat but is typically low on government health agendas (WKD 2008) with political commitments on non-communicable disease programs concentrating predominantly on four main diseases – cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease.
This knowledge gap is stifling the fight against kidney disease, and increasing the inherent associated mortality.
The WKD Joint Steering Committee calls for everyone worldwide to not only be aware of the disease, but to actively know what their own kidney health measures are. For example, what their blood pressure is and what the treatment objectives are (WKD 2010). It is a cause that involves all of us in the kidney community worldwide — physicians, scientists, nurses and other health-care providers, patients, administrators, health-policy experts, government officials, nephrology organizations, and foundations. All need to be aware of the ways in which more attention to the kidney in the setting of government policies can lead to major benefits both to patients and to health-care budgets (WKD 2007).
