Global Kidney Health Summit to develop 10-year care strategy

SHARJAH, 16th March, 2018 (WAM) -- The International Society of Nephrology (ISN) in collaboration with Emirate Nephrology Society and Training and Development Center, Ministry of Health and Prevention will host a Global Kidney Health Summit on end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in Sharjah from March 18th to 20th, 2018. It will bring together approximately 90 international experts to define a strategy for global ESKD care for the next five to 10 years.

According to organisers, more than 850 million people around the world have kidney disease. Despite optimal prevention and treatment of acute and chronic kidney disease, irreversible ESKD develops in a large number of patients. These patients with ESKD require kidney replacement therapy (KRT), dialysis or transplantation, to remain alive. In 2010, about 2.6 million people received KRT worldwide for ESKD. Up to another 7 million, mainly in low- and low-middle-income countries (LMIC), required KRT but died because they had no access to it. In addition, another 1.7 million people die each year from acute kidney disease, especially in LMIC, because of lack of access to dialysis.

Many elderly patients with other diseases in addition to ESKD are best treated with supportive care without dialysis. Amongst the many patients fit enough to receive dialysis, only a proportion are suitable for kidney transplantation. In 2014, approximately 80,000 kidney transplants were performed worldwide, filling only 1% of the need for KRT. In the absence of resource constraints, ESKD care is ideally delivered as a mix of supportive care, dialysis, and transplantation.

In LMIC with limited resources, KRT must be prioritized above other and often more pressing needs, such as sanitation, clean water, infectious disease, reproductive health, and the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, heart and blood vessel disease, as well as chronic kidney disease itself.

The aim of ISN’s second Global Kidney Health Summit will be to design a global strategy to better understand the global differences in ESKD care, support ESKD care development in LMIC, and consider the ethical, financial, and cultural issues involved in the expansion of ESKD care. The meeting will provide opportunities to define what we know and what we do not know about ESKD care, and how gaps in knowledge and practice can be filled.