World Kidney Day: Kidney health for everyone everywhere

On a day that the world celebrates this year's World Kidney Day which falls on March 14th, the World Kidney Day sets out to raise awareness of the high and increasing burdens of kidney diseases worldwide and the need for strategies for the disease prevention and management.

This year's World Kidney Day theme is, "Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere." The theme calls for the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) whose policy is to promote health by ensuring universal, sustainable and equitable access to essential healthcare for prevention and early treatment of kidney disease.

Since more than a decade ago, World Kidney Day (WKD) has turned into a global phenomenon. Today, World Kidney Day invites medical practitioners, government officials, celebrities, the general public, and patients to take action locally to help fight the menace of kidney infections.

Past World Kidney Days have seen more than 1000 events in over 90 countries participating in the World Kidney Day celebrations. Frantic efforts to create awareness on the kidney problems - the fastest growing cause of death, have continued to rise.

World Kidney Day calls for everyone to: encourage and adopt a healthy lifestyle (access to clean water, exercise, healthy diet, and tobacco control.), ensure kidney patients receive essential health services they need for example blood pressure and cholesterol control and to make screening for kidney diseases a primary healthcare.