Doris Obinna and Henry Uche
A non-governmental organization, Kidney Foundation for Africa has sued for a policy that would take care of people affected by kidney disease.
This was said at a symposium to commemorate the World kidney Disease Day, with theme: “Chronic Kidney Disease: Stop the Epidemic in Africa (Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere).” The symposium, held in Lagos was to commemorate the World Kidney Day was organised by Kidney Foundation for Africa.
Speaking at the event, Consultant Nephrologist (West Africa), Dr Ebun Bamgboye said government and other stakeholders in the medical sector should take frantic measures and actions to ameliorate the plights of affected persons in the country as it affects the national economy since most affected persons are within the productive age.
He advocated for a separate budget from the federation account to tackle this killer disease head-on like America and other developed economies does for their citizens.
Bamgboye maintained that certain illnesses if tackled on time would not metamorphose into kidney failure. He pointed hypertension, diabetes, HIV, hypertitise B and C as potential causes of kidney failure if they are not nib in the bud.
“To be honest we are not doing enough in the health sector, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), and others need to sit up because this is challenging in Nigeria, for instance research has shown that most heart failures and stroke people are sufferers of kidney failures but they don’t know.”
“This is because when you compare Nigeria visa- viz other countries you find out that we lack the capacity in all ramifications to eradicate this disease,” he stressed.
He added that there is need to improve access to services and dialysis, while noting that the International Association of Kidney Foundation, International Society of Nephrologists and Kidney Foundation for Africa are doing their bits to stem the tide of kidney disease, therefore Nigeria should not be lagging behind.
“About 13 per cent of Nigeria’s population suffered from Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), which was capable of leading to kidney failure and result in death. The kidney failure prevalence in Africa, which was higher than anywhere else in the world, must be controlled by early detection.”
Bamgboye said that the average African was four times more likely to develop kidney issues than the caucasians (white population).
He said that there was the need to recognise, identify and screen sicknesses like hypertension, diabetics, sickle cell to detect early enough for proper management and reducing speed of progression of renal failure.
“America spends close to $40 billion just to manage patients with kidney disease. Our NHIS covers only a few sessions of dialysis. So we must ensure that policy makers and stakeholders are informed about the significance and magnitude of the kidney failure,” the Nephrologist said.
On his part, Consultant of Internal Medicine and Nephrology, Cairo University, Egypt, (North Africa), Prof. Mohamed NasrAllah, said that Egypt provided full sponsorship for dialysis thrice weekly to reduce deaths from renal failure.
NasrAllah said that the Egyptian government sponsored up to half on cost of drugs after transplantation.
He urged for more training for the improvement of medical doctors caring for kidney patients.
This, NasrAllah said, would help increase efficiency and reduce costs which would have been incurred by inefficiencies.
Also, Consultant Physician and Nephrologist, Dr Esther Getambu, (East Africa) said that Kenya, through the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) paid for full dialysis and had medications for transplantation arrangements in the pipeline.
Head Nephrology Unit, Nelson Mandela School, (South Africa), Prof. Alain Assounga, said that South Africa’s goal was to improve ease of access to improved healthcare for those in the rural areas.
The Kidney Foundation for Africa was founded in 2009 by Late Dr Bose Peters, to explore ways and means of reducing morbidity and mortality due to Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and kidney failure.