Powerful Push to Promote Public Awareness of Kidney Disease

I’ve long been amazed and frustrated that most people know little about kidney disease and are unaware of the public health crisis: nearly 100,000 people in this country are waiting for a kidney from a deceased donor, and most will wait several years. For many, that’s too long, and thousands die every year because they didn’t receive a kidney in time.

That lack of information is widespread and includes educated, otherwise knowledgeable, well-informed people. Most of the 30 million-plus people in this country with chronic kidney disease don’t even know it yet, so if people paid more attention to their kidneys, and healthcare providers focused on early detection, kidney disease could be treated before it reached life-threatening kidney failure. Just think of the thousands—maybe millions—of lives that could be saved!

That’s why I was very excited to learn that the public awareness part of that amazing kidney health initiative just got some real teeth. The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is forming an important partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and American Society of Nephrologists (ASN) to promote the Public Awareness Initiative portion of what’s officially called Advancing American Kidney Health initiative. 

Did you know that one-third of Americans are at risk for developing kidney disease, not only because of diabetes and high blood pressure, but also cardiovascular disease, obesity, and family history of kidney disease? For certain groups, particularly African Americans and Hispanics, the risks are especially high: African Americans are three times as likely as whites, and Hispanics nearly 1.5 times as likely as non-Hispanics, to develop end stage kidney failure.

Even for people who are not at increased risk, my family knows well that our kidney health should never be taken for granted. If you read my son’s post on this site on the anniversary of his transplant, you may recall that he developed his kidney disease from a lingering strep infection. He was young and otherwise healthy, but 5 years later he was on dialysis, and 2 years after that, I gave him my kidney.     

The collaboration by HHS, NKF, and ASN will provide education about the risks of kidney disease and promote the early detection and management of kidney disease to improve patients’ results.

 For more information on the partnership, the Initiative, and kidney disease in general, read the complete announcement here.