National Kidney Month March 2024
The #850Challenge
850 million people in the world have kidney disease. Yet, few are aware of its dangers.
8,500 steps a day, 8.5 miles of walking, 85 miles of cycling, 8.5 minutes of high-intensity training are all ways to burn ~850 calories. These are some of the efforts that scientists, doctors, patients, relatives and carers will undertake as part of the #850Challenge to raise awareness of the 850 million people whose kidney function is irreversibly impaired.
On average, kidney disease affects one in nine people with most of them not even being aware that they are ill. This is because patients suffer silently at first because Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is largely asymptomatic at the beginning. This lack of early detection can be fatal as kidney dysfunction that lasts longer than three months most often is irreparable. Thankfully, though, early recognition and appropriate treatment can slow down or even stop the progression of CKD.
ASN invites everyone to help celebrate National Kidney Month and raise awareness by posting your #850Challenge efforts to social media and tagging @ASNKidney. Who's up for the challenge?
We're United 4 Kidney Health
Join the Movement
We're United 4 Kidney Health is an awareness-building initiative led by the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) to educate nephrologists, other kidney health professionals, and scientists about the dramatic changes and new opportunities taking place in kidney care, research, and education and enhance their professional development, and training.
The communications initiative was designed after conducting comprehensive qualitative and quantitative studies of kidney health professionals, nephrologists, researchers, industry experts, and people living with kidney diseases. Our research showed that improved treatments to slow or stop the progression of kidney diseases is critically important. And there should also be a focus on repositioning nephrology as part of early detection and treatment, not just in the "failure" and "end-stage" aspects of kidney treatment.
We used the findings from our research to identify four priorities for our community to move from kidney diseases to kidney health:
- INTERVENE EARLIER to prevent, diagnose, coordinate care, and educate.
- TRANSFORM TRANSPLANT and increase access to donor kidneys.
- ACCELERATE INNOVATION and expand patient choice.
- ACHIEVE EQUITY and eliminate disparities.
"We're United 4 Kidney Health" captures our goal of embracing early intervention and health over end-state treatment and diseases. The "4" references the four priorities that move us towards a world without kidney diseases.
Kidney Care Milestones
A Rich History
Celebrate National Kidney Month by reflecting on some of the historical milestones and advances in kidney care over the years. View the slideshow below for randomly selected milestones from the ASN archives.