By Asmaa Bahadi
Rabat - Around the world, many events take place every year on World Kidney Day to spread awareness about preventive behaviors, awareness about risk factors, and awareness about how to live with a kidney disease.
On March 3, on the occasion of the World Kidney Day and the second French-Moroccan meeting on nephrology issues, The Moroccan Association for the Fight of Kidney Diseases organized a lunch debate at the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity in Casablanca, to speak about the severity of acuteness diseases especially for children.
Only some 100 kidney transplantations were made in Morocco in the past 20 years, said nephrologist Professor Amal Bourquia, comparing the figure with the number of transplant surgeries in Spain, where 5,500 such operations were conducted in 2005. Mrs. Bourquia, also the chairwoman of the Moroccan Association for the Fight of Kidney Diseases, deplored the lack of information about “kidney transplantation in Morocco and the little interest in people suffering from renal diseases.”
Professor Bourquia insisted on taking charge of kidney deficiency patients, because of the excessive cost of medication, adding a haemodialysis session is charged at MAD 15,000 (USD 1,525) and transplant surgery costs MAD 200,000 (USD 20,336). Kidney transplants, which can save lives, should be a national fight, she said, adding that the practice faces difficulties owing to the means and equipment needed and cannot be developed unless all concerned parties get effectively involved, calling for a national strategy to remedy the situation.
World Kidney Day aims to raise awareness of the importance of our kidneys to our overall health and to reduce the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide. Participants in World Kidney Day events seek to encourage the systematic screening of all patients with diabetes and hypertension for CKD (chronic kidney disease) and preventive behaviors, as well as educating all medical professionals about their key role in detecting and reducing the risk of CKD, particularly in high risk populations.
In addition, World Kidney Day stresses the important role of local and national health authorities in controlling the CKD epidemic. On World Kidney Day all governments are encouraged to take action and invest in further kidney screening and encouraging transplants as a best-outcome option for kidney failure, and the act of organ donation as a life-saving initiative.
Kidney disease can affect children in various ways, ranging from treatable disorders without long-term consequences to life-threatening conditions.
Acute kidney failure is a serious condition that develops suddenly. It often lasts a short time, and may disappear completely once the underlying cause has been treated and if the patient receives the needed medical management. It can also have long-lasting consequences with life-long problems.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) doesn’t disappear with treatment, and tends to worsen over time. CKD eventually leads to kidney failure (end-stage kidney disease) and needs to be treated with a kidney transplant or blood-filtering treatments (dialysis) for life.
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