World Kidney Day: equitable access to care and optimal medication practice for all

Posted: 14/03/2024

On World Kidney Day, an associate in our clinical negligence team, Aline Constan, discusses the importance of raising awareness about kidney health, a topic which recently became very personal to her.

In September of last year, one of my sons was diagnosed with acute kidney injury. Not only was our world turned upside down in a matter of hours, but we also had to quickly pick up a new set of concepts, vocabulary, and treatment options.

He was diagnosed with a very rare condition called ‘atypical uremic haemolytic syndrome’ (aHUS). He was, however, lucky to be assessed incredibly quickly, starting dialysis within a few hours, and have access to pioneering treatment and the input of specialists straightaway. He has since made an incredible recovery.

What became clear, however, was how lucky we had been, and how limited our knowledge of kidney disease was. I therefore decided to write an article for World Kidney Day, which takes place on 14 March 2024. The aim of the campaign this year is to give equitable access to care and medication practice.

Kidney disease is still the eighth leading cause of death in the world, and it could reach fifth if left unaddressed. It is estimated that over 850 million people worldwide are affected with CKD (chronic kidney disease).

The recent years have seen a number of breakthroughs in treatment, allowing prevention and delay of the disease progression, and avoiding other complications such as kidney failure or cardiovascular disease.

Unfortunately, these therapies are not universally accessible to all patients, and there are a number of barriers, including treatment costs and access to health insurance, shortage of specialists, and the lack of awareness of the disease. As a result, there is a significant gap in early diagnosis across the globe.

The proposed strategy by the World Kidney Day campaign encompasses several points, with the goal of helping to save lives, by:

• putting in place a targeted health policy to integrate and disseminate kidney health knowledge to the public and healthcare workforce;
• enabling comprehensive, patient-centred, and locally oriented healthcare approaches to identify the barriers to high-quality kidney care;
• addressing the shortage of primary care professionals and kidney specialists via education programmes and training on scientific innovation, and utilising pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic tools;
• empowering patients and communities to raise awareness about CKD risk factors, including diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), and obesity.  

CKD is a progressive loss in kidney function. An early diagnosis is important, because after a certain point without intervention, it could lead to kidney failure, which affects the whole body and may be life-threatening.

Most people have no symptoms until CKD is advanced. The signs of advancing CKD include swollen ankles, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, decreased appetite, and bloody and foamy urine.

There are, however, things you can do to maintain healthy kidneys:

• keep fit, be active;
• eat a healthy diet;
• check and control your blood sugar;
• check and control your blood pressure;
• drink enough. This is usually two litres per day for a healthy person in comfortable climate conditions; 
• do not smoke;
• do not take over the counter anti-inflammatory/pain killer pills regularly;
• get your kidney function checked if you have one or more ‘high risk factors’, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, or a family history of kidney disease.

For more information about the campaign, click here.

Although I cannot fault in any way the care received by my son, as with so many conditions, timely diagnosis and treatment is very important, and failure to promptly diagnose and correctly treat kidney disease can have serious consequences. Unfortunately, not everyone receives the same level of care.

If you have been affected by this issue and would like to discuss it further on a confidential basis, please contact Aline, or another member of our specialist clinical negligence team.

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