Major American Kidney Organizations Appeal for Help from HHS Secretary Sebelius

NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Leaders of major U.S. kidney organizations concerned with reducing the burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in America, joined forces this week with their colleagues at the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) in its joint global initiative asking Health Ministers around the world, including HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius – to help secure the inclusion of kidney disease in the strategies coming from the World Health Organization/United Nations High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases being held in New York, 19-20 September 2011. The decision by the UN General Assembly to convene this meeting provides a unique opportunity for the international community to act against the non-communicable disease epidemic and save millions of lives.

Non-Communicable Diseases like CKD, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease (and others) have replaced infectious diseases (like HIV/AIDS, malaria, influenza, etc) as the most common and costly cause of global suffering and death. Therefore, in 2005 WHO challenged doctors around the world to "reduce death rates from non-communicable diseases by 2% per year during the next 10 years." Strangely however, only diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and pulmonary disease are included in WHO's non-communicable disease strategies; conspicuously absent is CKD, even though it affects twice the estimated number of the world's population with diabetes – including 5-7% of the U.S. population suffering from moderate to severe CKD.

Consequently, in a joint letter to Secretary Sebelius, leaders of the American Association of Kidney Patients; American Society of Nephrology; American Society of Pediatric Nephrology; National Kidney Foundation; NephCure Foundation; Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation; and Renal Physicians Association cited evidence that simple CKD detection and prevention programs can slow and even prevent progression to kidney failure, and reduce premature mortality due to CKD-associated cardiovascular disease. Because CKD meets all criteria for a major public health problem and can also be improved by most of the simple, affordable interventions WHO recommends for all non-communicable diseases, they called on America's HHS Secretary to urge that kidney disease be included in the global strategies for Non-Communicable Diseases the World Health Organization is now developing.

International Society of Nephrology
Rue du Luxembourg 22-24 B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 2 213 13 67 Fax: +32 2 213 13 63
http://www.theisn.org/

SOURCE International Society of Nephrology