Alarming Upsurge Of Kidney Disease

It is fact that kidney disease (renal failure) has become a huge problem affecting millions of people all over the world. Incidentally, the burden of the disease is increasing among Nigerians with its physical, social and financial complications. In recent times, the spate of kidney failure has been a real source of worry in Nigeria.
The burdens associated with the disease have financially impoverished both the sufferers and their families alike, even as stories of Nigerians affected continue to grab media headline everyday.

What is kidney or renal failure? It is when the kidneys are no longer working well enough for a person to live without dialysis or a kidney transplant. Medical experts have attributed the causes of kidney failure to include diabetes mellitus and long-term uncontrolled hypertension, chronic inflammation of the kidney, junks and fatty foods, advanced Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disease, indiscriminate consumption of herbal medicines and alcoholic beverages. Others are untreated microbial infection, diarrhoea, malaria, potassium bromate poisoning, abuse of painkillers particularly paracetamol.

Statistics by the Nigeria Association of Nephrology shows that about 37 million Nigerians of the country’s 170 million citizens are suffering from various forms of kidney diseases. In addition, records reveal that the disease affects an estimated 16,000 new patients every year. Increasingly, children are the worst hit with a prevalence rate of 22.3 admissions per 1000 child admissions per annum. Unfortunately, managing kidney related diseases is expensive even for the rich. Estimates put the cost of caring for kidney patients at N120 billion annually of which a larger percentage is spent on foreign medical tourism.

Managing kidney-related diseases is complicated, even as its prevalence is a problem in our environment. Estimates suggest that one out of every seven Nigerians has one stage of chronic kidney disease. Unfortunately, out of 50,000 patients, who should ideally be on dialysis, less than 1,000 are receiving one as at today. The good news is that some causes of kidney failure are treatable and the kidney function may return to normal. Unfortunately, kidney failure may be progressive in other situations and may be irreversible. Even at that, there is a lack of government funding for treatment in Nigeria unlike some African countries like Rwanda and South Africa. This leaves the entire burden to individuals who most often cannot bear the cost for too long.

It is painful to note that only a handful of hospitals presently have the dialysis machines, which ideally should be spread across the country to tackle issues of kidney failure. We are therefore calling for the subsidisation of kidney treatments in the country, as most patients are unable to afford the treatments. In all, combating kidney failure among Nigerians implies mounting relentless public awareness campaigns on the risk factors behind it.

To accomplish this, the government should take a holistic approach to chronic diseases prevention, early identification and intervention, even as we recommend that social, behavioural and biological determinants of health be addressed within the framework of an overarching national chronic diseases’ strategy.
Fundamentally, however, the government and health policy makers need to have scientific projections on the trend, with a view to putting in place a framework for investing and funding renal treatment centres nationwide.