Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere - Living Well with Kidney Disease

Introduction

World kidney day is a global campaign to raise awareness of the importance of our kidneys to overall health and to reduce the frequency and impact of kidney disease and associated health problems worldwide.

Approximately 1 in 10 people worldwide (an estimated 850 million people) have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Its associated symptoms, and treatment, can disrupt and constrain daily living and impair the overall quality of life of patients and their family members. The current treatment strategy is to preserve, substitute and restore kidneys function and provide relief from kidney failure. This status quo approach reduces the meaningful involvement of patients’ in the management and treatment of their disease. Because of this approach, patients frequently perceive treatments as imposed, punitive and out of control and does not satisfactorily reflect on patients.

The theme of the 2021 World Kidney Day campaign is “Living Well with Kidney Disease”. The focus of this year's campaign is to raise awareness on patient-centred wellness. At the International Society of Nephrology’s Community Film Event at the 2020 World Congress of Nephrology, there was a quote in the film from a patient: “Tell me, I will forget; show me, I will remember; involve me, I will understand.” The World Kidney Day 2021 steering committee calls for an increase in education and awareness on essential goals of patient-centred wellness and to highlight the importance of the following strategies to achieve it.

Symptom management and life participation

More practical and holistic symptom management beyond traditional kidney therapies should be encouraged. Patients and their care partners should adopt effective strategies to identify and manage symptoms such as pain, sleep issues, depression, stress and others to alleviate these symptoms to have a better health-related quality of life. Life participation, which is the ability of patients to engage in meaningful life activities, should be the key focus in caring for patients with CKD. Caretakers, as well as family members and friends involved in the care of the patients with CKD, should also follow these principles of life participation equally.

Patient education, engagement and empowerment

Patients with CKD and their family members or care partners should be empowered to gain greater control over their decisions and actions affecting their health. Patients should understand their role and have the ability to engage with clinicians in shared decision-making and support for self-management. Strength-based approaches which encompass strategies to support patient resilience, harness social connections, build awareness and knowledge, facilitate access to support and establish confidence and control in self-management should be given greater emphasis.

Increase awareness of preventive measures

Early detection with a prolonged course of wellness despite kidney disease, after an effective secondary prevention program should be promoted. Prevention of CKD progression can be attempted by lifestyle and diet modifications and through effective drugs therapies. There should be increased awareness of the importance of preventive measures across populations, professionals, and policymakers, applicable to developed and developing countries.

Patient empowerment, partnership and improved communications, combined with a paradigm shift towards a strengths-based approach to care, can inspire confidence and hope that patients can live well with CKD. Hence, We must move beyond the status quo and advance patient-centeredness in research, practice and policy.

Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology, an exclusive Kidney specialty hospital comes forward to achieve the goals set out by the World Kidney Day steering committee with an attempt to raise awareness among the healthcare providers, patients and caretakers on this crucial aspect "Living Well with Kidney Disease". We are organising a five-kilometre run on 14th of March 2021 at 6:00 am at Necklace road, Hyderabad.

Conclusion

Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology is the best Kidney hospital in hyderabad that comes forward to achieve the goals set out