Show your Kidneys love!

New campaign for kidney health.

9 March 2023

EKHA and partners launches new campaign for kidney health : Show your kidneys love!

Worldwide, 700 to 800 million people already suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD),  including 1 in 7 Europeans. Many of these patients are undiagnosed as symptoms only appear when the disease is at an advanced stage, yet survival is affected from the very beginning. Kidney disease should be seen as a silent killer. If nothing is done, chronic kidney disease is expected to be the fifth leading cause of death by 2040.

Today on World Kidney Day, we are launching ‘Show your kidneys love’, an awareness-raising campaign drawing special attention to the causes, prevention options, and diagnostics of chronic kidney disease. The campaign is the result of a collaborative effort between the European Kidney Health Alliance, the Dutch Kidney Foundation , the European Kidney Patients’ Federation, the European Dialysis and Transplant Nurses Association/European Renal Care Association, the European Renal Association and the International Society of Nephrology.

A prominent supporter of the campaign is world star Tina Turner, whom herself suffers from kidney failure due to poorly treated high blood pressure. She says, “I put myself in great danger because I refused to face the reality that I needed daily, lifelong therapy with medication. I believed for far too long that my body was an untouchable and indestructible bastion.”

Tina Turner’s kidney disease story is part of the awareness campaign and is already available to read on the campaign website : showyourkidneyslove.com.  Here, patients, interested individuals and policymakers can learn about kidney function and CKD, risk factors and prevention options. The goal is to increase awareness of how important the kidneys are in the overall human complex and the great harm that underlying diseases such as inadequately treated hypertension and diabetes cause.

The campaign also aims to increase awareness of kidney disease among EU and national policy makers. Regrettably, CKD is not considered as a public health emergency at EU level, and current initiatives and policies fail to address its challenges. The campaign offers policy recommendations on CKD prevention and screening with the firm intention to mitigate the disease’s burden. 

• Access the campaign’s website: here
• Read Tina Turner’s testimonial: here
• Read EKPF’s President Daniel Gallego’s testimonial: here
• Read EKHA President Prof. Dr Raymond Vanholder’s interview: here
• Read ERA President Prof. Dr Christoph Wanner’s interview: here
• Read Prof. Dr. Andreas Serra’s interview: here
• Read our policy recommendations: here