World Kidney Day 2022: “Kidney health for all”: bridging the gap in kidney health, education, literacy – Kidney Foundation

There is a high burden of kidney disease and disparities that exist globally in kidney care, said the Kidney Foundation of Guyana (KFG). Today’s observance of World Kidney Day has been themed, “Kidney Health for All”, highlighting the issue of bridging the gap in global understanding of kidney disease and its health literacy.

According to the Kidney Foundation of Guyana (KFG), there are poor outcomes associated with kidney failure which bring a concomitant growing burden to persons affected, their families, and caregivers, and the community at large.
“For kidney care to improve, we need to improve the education of the population. Health literacy is defined as the degree to which persons and organisations enable themselves or individuals with the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others. Improving health literacy largely rests with health-care providers communicating and effectively educating those with kidney disease,” the Foundation said in its message.
Citing an example, it noted that most people were not aware of what kidneys are for or even where their kidneys are located and as such, when these persons become afflicted by disease and the subsequent effects on overall health, effective health-care provider communication is required to support individuals to be able to understand what to do, to make decisions, and to take action.
“Persons will make the right decisions for themselves when they are educated about their condition and available options. Empowering patients is an essential part of health-care delivery. Health literacy involves more than functional abilities of an individual; it is also the cognitive and social skills needed to gain access to, understand, and use information to manage health conditions,” the KFG said.
This, the Foundation said, is why the imperatives around health literacy are now recognised as indicators for the quality of local and national health care systems and health-care professionals within them. For chronic kidney disease (CKD), as the disease progresses alongside other health changes and increasing treatment complexities, it becomes more difficult for individuals to manage.
“Therefore, current approaches need to be shifted forward towards patient education and empowerment. Low health literacy in people with CKD has been demonstrated to be associated with poor CKD knowledge, poor self-management behaviours, and reduced quality of life,” the KFG said in its message.
It added that it has recognised that it takes a nation to improve kidney care and there must be interactions among individuals, health-care providers, and health policymakers. It added that it was partnering with several governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations to bridge the gap in understanding kidney disease and its health literacy. Priority areas, it said, include providing educational materials for patients and families across the country; educational and training sessions for patients and medical professionals on kidney disease and dialysis; and producing a nutrition booklet for Guyanese to promote healthy diets.
“Non-physician healthcare workers, including nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, social workers, and other allied health professionals, serve an important role in the care of persons with kidney disease as they spend more time with these patients during encounters,” the Foundation noted.
It pointed out that there were many opportunities for care providers to educate patients with kidney diseases. Patients are encouraged to ask questions and to have discussions with their health-care team. The health centres, the Foundation said, can help identify those with or at risk of developing CKD and can initiate educating those persons and their family members about the role of diet and lifestyle modification for prevention of CKD. They can also identify and manage risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension which can lead to preservation of kidney function. (Adapted by Guyana Kidney Foundation from WKD 2022 and NIDDK.nih.gov)