Kidney Month 2012: Awareness and Prevention

By Erlinda Olivia P. Tiu

Tuesday 5th of June 2012

TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE, June 5 (PIA) -- The month of June is observed all over the country as National Kidney Month by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 184 issued by then-President Fidel V. Ramos in May of 1993.

Leading the nationwide celebration is the National Kidney Institute which is determined to promote awareness and prevention of kidney diseases among Filipinos.

In line with this year’s theme “Ikaw at Ako Panalo sa Malusog na Bato,” various activities are being prepared for the nationwide celebration to include outreach programs, free clinics, team building activities, and mass media information campaigns.

Chronic kidney disease is now the 10th leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Philippines, according to the Department of Health. The Philippines as a CKD country has pulled away from being comparable to Southeast Asian neighbors in incidence at 2.6 per 100,000 people in 2003 to 9.75 Filipinos having the disease within that same population as of 2008.

Kidney disease is cousin to diabetes and hypertension, and therein lies the roots of nearly 70 percent of the CKD problem as these latter two medical conditions go on a rampage of their own in the Philippines and around the world.

Kidney disease is described as a "multiplier," causing death in many people with diabetes and hypertension and increasing a person's risk of suffering a heart attack.

According to the Philippine Renal Disease Registry, diabetes mellitus was responsible for 42 percent of kidney diseases among dialysis patients in 2009. Hypertension, on the other hand, contributed 25 percent, closely followed by kidney inflammation, 20 percent.

Kidney disease and kidney failure are important public-health problems because of the increasing prevalence of genetically transmitted diseases like diabetes and hypertension, the two most common causes of CKD worldwide.

While it is true that it may not be the no. 1 killer disease among Filipinos, renal disease has its own bizarre way of creeping into a complacent, sedentary population.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government has ordered all governors and all city and municipal mayors to fully support the Renal Disease Control Program (REDCOP) of the Department of Health (DOH).

These local government executives were tasked to designate provincial city and municipal REDCOP coordinators; conduct fora on Renal Health and Renal Disease Prevention; and spearhead activities to promote renal health.

The DOH, through the National Kidney and Transplant Institute and its REDCOP, conducts advocacy campaigns to increase awareness of renal disease prevention and the promotion of renal health. (PIA 8)