On 14-16 May, Kidney Research UK, the leading charity dedicated to research into kidney disease in the UK is for the second year in a row, partnering with the “Pint of Science Festival”, an international science festival bringing together leading scientists and researchers to local pubs, so people can...
The first international treaty aimed at combating trafficking in human organs, the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs recently entered into force in the first five countries which have some far ratified it. Another 17 countries have signed but not ratified the Convention: Albania, Czech Republic,...
As mentioned in EKHA Newsletter’s previous edition, Theresa May initiated plans to implement an opt-out system for organ donation last October and is undergoing a consultation on the issue. In parallel, MP Geoffrey Robinson's private members’ bill, recently passed its second reading in Parliament and will now be examined at the...
This year’s World Kidney Day is entitled “Kidneys & Women’s Health: Include, Value, Empower” celebrates kidneys and women’s Health. With World Kidney Day and the International Women’s Day 2018 being commemorated on the same day, this offers a good opportunity to reflect on the importance of women’ s health and...
The Dutch Senate recently voted – albeit with a small majority (38 votes in favor, 36 against) – in favor of a bill drafted by MP Pia Dijkstra establishing an opt-out system for organ donation from deceased people, similar to what is already in place in Spain and Belgium. Adopted...
This year’s European Kidney Forum, organized each spring by EKHA and the MEP Group for Kidney Health will take place on 26 April 2018 at 4.30 in the European Parliament in Brussels. Mark your calendar! Themed “Kidney donation and transplantation, the gift of life”, the European Kidney Forum will foster discussion...
On 25 January 2018, the European Commission issued a call for proposals for funding projects aimed at scaling up integrated care in the field of non communicable diseases. The main objective is to support the pan-EU collaboration between health and/or social services actors at national, regional or locals levels with...
A study published by Pugh-Clarke K, Read SC, Sim J in the Journal of Renal Care in December 2017 suggests that patients with CKD stages 4 and 5 may have a high symptom burden. Whilst symptom burden in patients with advanced CKD managed without dialysis has been likened to that...
For the 26th consecutive year, in 2017, Spain reached the great record of 46.9 donors per million population, with a total of 2,183 donors, increasing the number of donors by 30% in the last three years. 6 people have donated organs every day and 14 transplants have been performed daily....
Last October, Theresa May initiated plans to implement an Opt-out system in the UK with a view to increasing the availability of organs for people in need of a transplant. Already in place in some EU countries (Belgium, France, Spain, etc.), the system relies on presumed consent from the deceased...
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.
