In this World Kidney Day, MEDICC Review share with you the Editorial by World Kidney Day Steering Committee and the MR special issue April 2014, Vol 16, No 2, dedicated to CKD in agricultural communities.
Taken from https://www.worldkidneyday.org/
850 million people worldwide are now estimated to have kidney diseases from various causes. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) causes at least 2.4 million deaths per year and is now the 6th fastest growing cause of death.
Hence, our 2019 theme is “Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere”, aiming to highlight the growing burden of kidney disease and kidney health disparity and inequity worldwide. As World Kidney Day (WKD) is approaching, the kidney organizations and the nephrology community are getting busier to make the best out of the next WKD.
As you might know already, Chronic Kidney Disease is likely to be the 5th leading cause of Years of Life Lost by 2040. To tackle this issue, you can undertake several advocacy activities. You can start by identifying the most pressing policy issues involving kidney disease in your country and addressing your asks and queries to the key advocacy targets (usually policy makers, Heads of Governments, Ministers of Health, Health and policy officers, etc.). You can either engage through communicating directly (letter, email or even telephone) with the relevant stakeholders or indirectly through your informal and formal networks. If you need detailed guidance on how to advocate for kidney health in your country, download our advocacy toolkit.
Another way of marking WKD is to encourage your institution, colleagues and local society to organize awareness activities. You still have time to organize an event, so get creative! If you need new ideas on the type of event to organize or on how to go about the organization of your event, download our events guide. Moreover don’t forget that the WKD material is freely available for download and use under specific conditions. Is your event dedicated to school children? Make use of the 2 educational School Kits created especially for them!
If you are an early bird and have already planned a great event for WKD, please make sure to add you event to our world map. By pinning your event on the map you will both promote your event, making it easier to locate it for participants and potential supporters, and you will help us have an overview of all the events taking place around the world and ultimately to assess the success of the campaign.
To boost your event, try to involve local celebrities and press, if you have the chance to do so! Ask them to share their support to WKD cause on social media by using our hashtag and tagging us, invite them to your awareness raising event or try to reach out to local and national press, radio and TV stations. You can also research to see whether there are celebrities in your country who have a history of Kidney Disease and actively approach them to get involved in your activity!
Be active on social media and let the world know that you support our cause: tag us and use our hashtag on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. If you need inspiration for tweets and posts, download our social media toolkit! Don’t forget to use our hashtag #worldkidneyday.
