EKHA welcomes the recent announcement of the health priorities of the upcoming Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU (starting January 2019) in so far as they reflect an intention from the future Presidency to boost organ donation in Europe: a document* freshly released from the Presidency outlines under the overall aim of “guaranteeing access to...
As part of the EuDonOrgan project 6 EU countries were selected to host awareness raising events to foster an organ donation culture nationally and in neighboring countries. EuDonORgan is a 36-month multi-country EU funded project to boost organ donation. Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Sweden are selected to organise activities between Autumn 2018 and Spring 2019. The countries were selected on...
With 1 in 10 adults with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Europe and 1 in 3 adults at increased risk of developing CKD, high costs for hospital based haemodialysis (up to 80,000€ per patient per year) and the negative impact of dialysis on patients’ quality of life, it becomes urgent...
On June 7th, the European Commission officially released Horizon Europe, the next EU Research Framework Programme outlining research funding and structure between 2021 and 2027. Calling it the most ambitious and innovation programme yet, the European Commission presented a €100 billion budget for research, up from €77 billion for the current program, with the actual proposal for...
The European Commission is working on the successor of Horizon 2020, the next EU Research Framework Programme which will outline research priorities beyond 2020. A draft version of the framework (dated 11 April), noted that the biggest changes in the next research funding scheme will be the creation of a European...
With health being a competence of the Member States (MS), the European Commission mandate on the issue is limited to improving cooperation between Member States, to foster best-practice exchange and to establish measures setting high standards of quality and safety of organs – as outlined by Stefaan Van der Spiegel,...
For Kidney Care UK representative Fiona Loud – transplantation is “the gold standard treatment” – as she put it at the European Kidney Forum 2018 in Brussels. Affected by a rare disease causing pre-eclampsia and having to face two episodes of kidney cancer, Fiona Loud said she was fortunate enough...
EKHA has launched the Gift Of Life campaign to boost organ donation and foster increased access to transplantation across EU Member States. An advocacy initiative, EKHA’s Gift of Life campaign aims to raise awareness on the need for: a coordinated approach at EU level as regards kidney donation appropriate legal,...
There is still time to register your participation at this year’s European Kidney Forum which will take place on 26 April 2018 at 4.30 in the European Parliament in Brussels. Organized each spring by EKHA and the MEP Group for Kidney Health, the European Kidney Forum 2018 is themed: Kidney Donation...
Started on 1st January 2017 with funding from the European Commission under the 3rd Health Programme, the EDITH project is based on the realization that different treatment modalities are currently used throughout the EU for End Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD). It aims to examine the factors that influence the different...
European Kidney Health Alliance
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out via contact form.
