World Kidney Day - Thursday 12 March 2009
Resources for 2009 released October 2008
In 2008, over 310 different events were organized in 90 countries and territories across 6 continents. This represented an increase in participation of more than 25% over last year’s campaign. It is hoped this work will continue to raise public awareness of Chronic Kidney Disease throughout the year, and ultimately result in positive changes in behavior, health care systems and practices.
World Kidney Day annually 2nd Thursday of March - a joint initiative - International Federation of Kidney Foundations and International Society of Nephrology
World Kidney Day photos of activities (click links here and below)
IFKF Global Headquarters
Teresa Taylor - Executive Assistant
GPO Box 9993, Adelaide SA 5001 Australia
Phone +61 8 8334 7555 Fax +61 8 8334 7540
ifkfglobal@kidney.org.au * www.ifkf.net
World Kidney Day Project Team
Kristina T'Seyen/ Project Manager
Avenue de Tervueren, 300, 1150 Brussels, Belgium
Phone +32 789 23 38 Fax +32 2 743-1550
info@worldkidneyday.org * www.worldkidneyday.org
Why a World Kidney Day? The “bigger picture”
Chronic, non-communicable diseases (particularly cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease) have now replaced the communicable diseases as the leading threat to public health and health budgets worldwide.
Deaths claimed by infectious diseases will decline by 3% over the next decade. In marked contrast, chronic diseases, that already account for 72% of the total global burden of disease in people over 30, will increase by 17%. Much of this in developing countries.
The cost of treating these chronic diseases, already 80% of many health care budgets, represents a leading threat to public health and healthcare resources worldwide. The only feasible global response to this pending health and socio-economic crisis is chronic disease prevention.
The case for early detection and prevention
The kidney, too often overlooked as part of global public health efforts, has now emerged as central to prevention efforts.
The cost of renal replacement therapy (RRT) for total kidney failure weighs heavy on many health care budgets. Over 1.5 million individuals around the world receive dialysis or have had a kidney transplant.
Even more importantly, kidney disease is a “disease multiplier”. It causes death in many people with diabetes and hypertension and predicts the development of a cardiovascular event.
If detected early CKD can be treated, thereby reducing other complications. Abnormalities in kidney function often represent an early window into the state of the general vascular system. This window facilitates early disease detection before patients develop more devastating problems such as a stroke, peripheral vascular disease, coronary heart disease and kidney failure.
This new information now demands that kidney assumes a central role in global health and prevention efforts, because increased awareness of kidney disease has the immediate potential to dramatically reduce the growing burden of deaths and disability from chronic cardiovascular disease worldwide.
Promoting early detection and prevention of CKD will be an important step towards achieving the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended goal of reducing death rates related to chronic disease in the world by 2% per year over the next decade.
Chronic kidney diseases and cardiovascular diseases will kill 36 million people by the year 2015.
Key Facts on Chronic Kidney Disease
What is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)?
How common is chronic kidney disease?
What causes chronic kidney disease?
How is chronic kidney disease detected?
What are the consequences of undetected chronic kidney disease?
What are the costs and consequences to society of the growing epidemic of CKD?
What can be done to detect, prevent and treat chronic kidney and cardiovascular disease?
Media Corner
The IFKF and ISN appeal to global media to assist in communicating and reporting on the objectives of World Kidney Day. To begin to educate the wider public on the serious implications and consequences of chronic kidney disease and its associated cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, is the first step towards early detection and prevention. Media-related enquiries: Phone +32 2 743 4411 or info@worldkidneyday.org
Help us track media coverage
Catalogue exciting local initiatives around the globe, send the World Kidney Day Project Team your action plans, reports, photos, and any other promotional material and related website links. Submit information and requests here.
World Kidney Day Materials |
We hope that you find the WKD materials appealing and will consider using them to their fullest potential in your local events and campaigns. World Kidney Day logo bars represent blood (red), excess water (blue) and urine (yellow) that our kidneys filter, clean and eliminate.
Permission to use these materials is granted to all non-profit organizations related to ISN and IFKF, to non-profit groups conducting awareness campaigns, and to medical professionals and establishments.
We warmly encourage you to translate these materials, so that they end up in many different languages on the bumpers of cars, on the slides of speakers’ presentations, on the walls of doctors’ waiting rooms and on the shirts of famous sports players, and so that together we reach as large an audience as possible on World Kidney Day.
Profit-making corporate entities may not freely associate to or utilize the WKD logo and materials without obtaining prior written agreement info@worldkidneyday.org
World Kidney Day is made possible in part by:
and Wyeth