World Kidney Day 2022

World Kidney Day is a global initiative aimed at raising awareness on the importance of kidney health, and the considerable burden of kidney disease for populations and health systems across the world. More specifically, The objectives of World Kidney Day are to sensitise EU policy makers and the general public about Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) prevention, treatments and care. Innovative treatments are desperately lacking and inequalities in access to all treatment options, such as kidney transplantation and home-dialysis remain high.  

This year’s World Kidney Day theme is “Kidney Health for All”. The campaign calls on all of us to work to bridge knowledge gaps to improve kidney care. The 2022 campaign will focus on efforts to increase education and awareness about kidney health and on reducing the stubbornly high CKD knowledge gap at all levels of kidney care.

On this important day, EKHA worked with key stakeholders and policymakers to express the urgent needs of the kidney community in a series of video statements. One message standing out is that CKD should be included as a priority area in the new EU initiative on Non-Communicable Diseases ‘Healthier Together’.

Currently, 100 million people in Europe suffer from CKD, and it is estimated that by 2040, CKD will be the fifth leading cause of death globally. The overall costs of CKD are estimated at 140 billion euros per year in Europe, and annual reimbursement per country for dialysis, which is the main treatment for advanced kidney disease, can be as high as €80,000 per patient. Including CKD in the EU initiative on NCDs is a necessary step to help reverse this worrying trend. It will be beneficial to both patients and society. 

Watch stakeholders video statements for World Kidney Day 2022: here