For Immediate Release March 5, 2021
Contact: Nichole Jefferson, President Home Dialyzors United Phone: 469.531.3344
Email: ngedney@homedialyzorsunited.org
World Kidney Day (WKD), March 11, 2021 launches the year of “Living Well with Kidney Disease”. Home Dialyzors United (HDU) is supporting the mission of World Kidney Day as we launch the “Decade of Home Dialysis” . On March 11, in honor of World Kidney Day, HDU will premier our new video “The Faces of Home Dialysis”. By dialyzing at home, either peritoneal or hemodialysis, studies have shown that people benefit by living longer, healthier, and more productive lives.
One in three people in the general population (an estimated 850 million people) is at increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). And although an estimated 10% of people worldwide have CKD, estimates suggest 9 in 10 of those are unaware of their condition.
This year’s campaign theme for WKD, “Living Well with Kidney Disease”, is about highlighting the importance of education and awareness about effective symptom management and patient empowerment, with the ultimate goal of encouraging life participation. Whilst effective measures to prevent kidney disease and its progression are important, patients with kidney disease – including those who depend on dialysis and transplantation – and their care-partners should feel supported, especially during pandemics and other challenging periods, by the concerted efforts of kidney care communities such as HDU.
World Kidney Day and Home Dialyzors United call for the inclusion of life participation as a key focus in the care of patients with CKD and ESRD as a building block towards delivering the ultimate goal of living well with kidney disease.
We must move beyond the status quo and advance patient-centeredness in research, practice and policy. Patient empowerment, partnership and improved communications, combined with a paradigm shift towards a strengths-based approach to care, can inspire confidence and hope in patients.
About Home Dialyzors United:
Home Dialyzors United (HDU) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and the only dialysis patient group dedicated solely to home dialysis. Our mission is to inspire, inform, and advocate for an extraordinary quality of life for the home dialysis community. We know from personal experience that, with the right dialysis treatment, many patients with ESRD (and their families and care partners) can lead a normal life, enjoying family and friends, and pursuing employment, education, volunteer, and leisure activities.
Based on our experience, as a patient organization specifically representing the home dialysis community, HDU supports education, home dialysis, technology improvements, and kidney transplantation, all of which will ultimately improve long term outcomes for patients.
To learn more about how HDU supports patients, and how patients can support HDU visit http://www.homedialyzorsunited.org
About the organizers of World Kidney Day:
World Kidney Day is a joint initiative of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF).
Founded in 1960, the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) is a global not-for-profit society dedicated to improving kidney care and reducing the incidence and impact of kidney disease worldwide. Through its global network and programs, ISN brings together the developing and developed world in a collaborative effort in fighting and treating kidney disease on a global scale. More information on www.theisn.org.
The International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF), a not-for-profit Federation founded in 1999, currently has a membership of 63 kidney foundations and patient groups in 41 countries.
For more on World Kidney Day, see: https://www.worldkidneyday.org/