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.