Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi: Do you know that who donated the kidney to their own? 90 percent kidney doners are women
On the occasion of World Kidney Day, IMA launched Kidney Disease Prevention Project which is aimed to halt the epidemic of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) spreading in our Country.
“Every year pregnancy related Kidney Diseases account for a major cause of maternal mortality in our country. The burden of chronic kidney diseases in India is approximately 800 affected per million people (pmp) with 230 pmp with advanced kidney disease needing some form of renal replacement therapy in the form of dialysis or renal transplantation. The resources and skill for taking care of this large patient load in terms of health care infrastructure does not exist currently in India”said Dr. Garima Aggarwal Nephrologist Convenor, IMA Kidney Disease Prevention Project.
She added to tackle the problem of limited access to specialists and treatment, an important method would be to try and reduce the incidence of kidney disease by preventive measures. It is clear that treatment of kidney disease and its advanced stage end stage renal disease is expensive and beyond the reach of average Indian. Thus it is crucial that prevention of chronic kidney disease has to be the goal of medical fraternity, government of India and the general public.”
“Diabetes and Hypertension account for over 2/3rd of the cases of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). As per recent Indian Council of Medical Research data, prevalence of both diabetes and hypertension in urban Indian adult population has risen to as high as 20%. With rising prevalence of various life style diseases in India, prevalence of kidney disease has also almost doubled in the last decade and is expected to rise further. Besides the large and ever growing burden of non communicable diseases (Diabetes and hypertension), various people are affected by kidney diseases due to Over-The-Counter (OTC) drugs and traditional medicines containing heavy metals which harm the kidneys.”said Honorary Secretary General of IMA, Dr RN Tandon.
On this World Kidney Day (WKD), which coincides with the International Women’s Day, IMA wishes to bring the focus back on Kidney Health & also to bring out the important role played by Women in the health of their family and of the society. The risk of developing CKD is at least as high in women as in men, and may even be higher. However, the number of women on dialysis in India is lower than the number of men.
The Indian Medical Association and its medical leaders have vowed to take up the cause of chronic kidney disease in India in the form of a nationwide preventive and awareness drive. IMA is the only pan India medical association which has the ability, the reach and the influence over such a large medical community especially the primary care physicians.
“In India focussing on women can make a huge difference to the success of any programme, as they are the fulcrums around which our families, food habits & culture rotates, thus women become the most important stake holder in the campaign. The project includes screening drives to identify the population at risk, kidney health awareness drives at primary care physician levels and Pan India kidney centric educational events with the involvement of local nephrologists.” Said Dr. Vinay Aggarwal
