10 March 2022, celebrated as World Kidney Day for this year, is a global health campaign, targeted to create awareness towards the health and impact of kidneys worldwide.
World Kidney Day is celebrated on the 2nd Thursday of March, which happens to be 10 March in the year 2022. The first-ever World Kidney Day (WKD) was observed in 2006 and has since been celebrated worldwide. WKD is the result of the joint effort of the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF) & the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) which took into account the growing need to make the general public understand the importance of the filtrate system in our body.
It is estimated 1 out of every 10 adult population, globally, suffers from Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Its early detection can prevent further renal deterioration, but with changing lifestyles and environments, the mortality rate for CKD is increasing every year.
Kidneys are a vital part of our body, that functions as a filter for blood and helps produce urine as an excretory product. This is crucial for people with high morbidity diseases like hypertension, and high blood sugar levels. This population is more susceptible to CKD than the rest.
WKD encourages systematic screening of diabetic and high BP patients for CKD. It focuses on preventive measures, like change in lifestyle, dietary intakes, and regular control of blood component level as a major factor in curbing CKD impact on the population.
This year’s WKD theme was “Kidney Health for All” with the focus point on bridging the gap to improve kidney health.
Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India takes a step further to prevent the late detection of CKD. The nephrology department of Safdarjung Hospital launched hemodiafiltration (HDF) machines for better purification of kidneys during dialysis. Previously, the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), India was the only institute to cater such machines in government-run facilities.
HDF is proposed as the latest technology used for renal dialysis. This machine works faster and better in comparison to normal dialysis. The machines cost a lot if in private hospitals, but in Safdarjung Hospital, this facility is made available for free.
It was later made clear that the idea for this came out because of COVID-19 as the Safdarjung was the first hospital to be turned into a COVID facility during the pandemic, which undoubtedly interrupted the dialysis patients.
This can be regarded as a good outcome out of a declining situation. COVID affected many hospitals but facilities were advanced in a majority of government hospitals which improved the quality of life of many patients.
