Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika has underscored the importance of early screening to combat chronic kidney disease.
She warned that kidney infections should be diagnosed early enough through screening to avoid complications or even death later in life.
In a statement to the press, Governor Kihika urged the residents to take advantage of the ongoing free screening of the disease at the Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital (NTRH) and all the public health facilities spread across the 11 Sub-Counties.
She said Nakuru was ready to observe the World Kidney Day scheduled for the 13th of this month at NCTR.
World Kidney Day is held on the second Thursday of March annually and aims at enhancing global awareness of kidney health, emphasizing the critical role kidneys play in overall health.
The awareness campaign is also aimed at striving to mitigate the prevalence and impact of kidney disease and its related health issues worldwide.
The theme for this year, ‘Are your kidneys, okay? Detect early, protect kidney health’, underscores the commitment to ensuring comprehensive kidney care was accessible to all.
Ms Kihika observed that knowledge gap was hindering kidney care in Kenya adding that for progress to be made in early detection and treatment of kidney disease, there was need to create awareness on early detection as well as how to prevent the disease.
“Please prioritize your kidney health by getting tested for blood pressure, random blood sugar, and urinalysis,” Ms Kihika pleaded.
She regretted that many people do not go for regular checkups due to ignorance, resulting to many of them realizing that they had kidney ailments when the disease had already advanced.
The silent disease affects 10 percent of the adult population worldwide, with about 1.8 million people in the country being at risk, according to the Ministry of Health.
The MoH also indicates that about 5 million people in Kenya have kidney diseases at either at mild, moderate, severe or chronic stages.
According to health experts, kidney disease is characterized by its long duration and progressive nature and is dubbed a silent killer due to its ability to lead to kidney failure and death because of its non-communicable nature.
Chronic kidney disease, also called chronic kidney failure, the experts adds that it involves a gradual loss of kidney function.
The World Kidney Day is held every year on the second Thursday of March and is aimed at enhancing global awareness of kidney health, emphasizing the critical role kidneys play in overall health and striving to mitigate the prevalence and impact of kidney disease and its related health issues worldwide.
According to data by the Ministry of Health, high prevalence, late diagnosis, limited access to treatment and poor control of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes are major contributors to chronic kidney disease or kidney failure.
Chronic kidney disease includes conditions that damage your kidneys and decrease their ability to keep you healthy by filtering wastes from your blood.
By Esther Mwangi and Brian Kiplimo
