“Kidney health for all – bringing more access and equity in the care of people with kidney disease”, was the emphasis as Nephrologist round the globe marked 2024 world kidney day. No exception to Nephrologist in UPTH as they opened access for patient relatives, and staff of the hospital to free screening of the kidneys.
Speaking on the essence of the campaign, a senior consultant in the unit , Professor Pedro Emem Chioma, said the campaign is to help the public to be aware of their kidneys health and safeguard themselves from predisposing factors that may cause the kidneys to be diseased.
Over the years he said
records have shown about 850million are reported to have kidney disease and 3.1 million deaths recorded for kidney failure, a huge burden, hence the need for awareness to kidney health. The common causes, he says is hypertension, kidney inflammation, diabetes. Other causes is the use of common pain relief drugs without medical/clinical prescription , also the use of herbal concoctions which is common around us . There is also the need to curtail the use of salt to maintain kidney health.
Adequate hydration (taking enough of clean water) is very key to kidneys health, because the kidney serves excretory function, meaning as long as the body is functioning certain waste products are produced as part of the metabolism and function of the body and it is through the kidneys majority of these waste are removed from the body, so when the kidneys doesn’t function many of these substances are retained within the body system which is unhealthy. The kidney uses water as a vehicle to excrete these substances and helps to maintain a balance of water volume. Water is vital to maintain kidney health. Between 2.5 to 3 liters of water per day should suffice, a recommendation made for the kidney’s health .
Professor Chioma affirming the units competence in kidney care said over the years the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital always gets referrals from other centers of neighbouring state .. and has had a Renal unit that has existed for several decades where they have been able to offer different level of care for people who have kidney disease. The new kidney and other organ transplant center which is been developed, Prof Chioma said will in the near future begin to offer kidney transplant and continue to offer different levels of care, kidney replacement therapy , dialysis . kidney transplant “at the moment we are at the stage of preparing to offer kidney transplantation but dialysis we are able to offer “.
Dr. Manda West, Head of the Renal units, with the team of nurses , clinical and non clinical staff ensured the seem less coordination as they attended to all who presented for the free screening
Similarly, the Paediatric Nephrologist from the hospital also took the campaign to Community Primary and Secondary school Alakahia, for sensitization on kidney health for students and their teachers.
A consultant Paediatric Nephrologist Professor Ifeoma Anochie, who led the Paediatric team to the school, expressed concern as she stated that kidney care is difficult in our setting and so the target is to give health talk to creat awareness to aid prevention, because of the burden of care relating to the economic issues and access to health facilities to meet the population in need of kidney treatment
She highlighted the cause of paediatric renal/kidney disease to sometimes congenital, advocating that mother’s during pregnancy should register for adequate and professional (medical) care to avert kidney disease in children. Expectant mothers are also advised to avoid consumption of foods/drugs/substance that can be harmful to babies. She listed some of the causes of paediatric renal issues to problems with infections, malaria, obesity etc
The team of Doctors and other health workers who visited the school after the medical talks , clarified questions raised, conducted free screening for students from age 10 and above with their teachers for kidney text with medical counseling.
