The European Kidney Forum 2018 was held on 26 April 2018 in the European Parliament in Brussels. Attended by members of the kidney community from across Europe, the forum was hosted by the MEP Group for Kidney Health co-chairs Hilde Vautmans (Belgium) and Karin Kadenbach (Austria). Under the theme “Kidney donation and transplantation – the gift of life”, the event aimed to foster discussion on the need to boost organ donation and transplantation in Europe and explore means to achieve this.
An overview of the status organ donation and transplantation in Europe including especially disparities across Member States; the physicians viewpoint, the patient’s perspective, the work of the European Commission on the matter and its impact at Member State level as well as Member States’ responsibilities were discussed. In addition, EKHA shared its Recommendations for increasing availability and uptake of kidney transplantation in Europe.
Finally, the European Kidney Forum was also the opportunity for EKHA to launch its Gift of Life campaign e.g EKHA’s latest initiative to raise awareness on the need for a coordinated approach at EU level as regards kidney donation and transplantation and the importance of appropriate legal, structural and cultural frameworks in EU member states to boost donation rates and reduce the numbers of deaths resulting from kidney failure while waiting for a transplant. More on EKHA’s Gift of Life campaign here.
Access the Kidney Forum speakers summaries and presentations here.
Download the Kidney Forum report here.