World Kidney Day
Celebrated every year in March,
World Kidney Day is a campaign
dedicated to raising the profile of
kidney disease, which affects 10%
of the adult population worldwide.
It aims at increasing awareness of
the importance of our kidneys to
our overall health and to reduce
the frequency and impact of kidney
disease and its associated health
problems worldwide.
This World Kidney Day campaign focuses
on raising awareness about this issue, while
continuing to encourage the importance of
living more healthily. Taking steps to live a
healthy lifestyle drastically helps to reduce
risk of kidney disease, and its progression to
kidney failure. Kidney Health New Zealand
congratulates the NZ Police for their support
of World Kidney Day and their commitment
to the health and wellbeing of their staff.
Kidney Disease in New Zealand
• Excellent blood pressure and
blood sugar control reduces
the complications of diabetes,
including kidney disease.
Kidney disease can be a silent illness,
with few or no symptoms. Anyone who has
diabetes or high blood pressure, has Maori,
Pacific or Indo Asian heritage, is over 60
years old, a smoker, or who has a family
member with one of these conditions,
should be tested regularly to ensure that
their kidneys are working properly. In
addition, older people and those who are
overweight should also make it a habit to
have their urine tested on a regular basis to
be certain that their kidneys are functioning
in the normal range. Testing is the only way
to determine your kidneys’ health. If you do
have chronic kidney disease, the sooner you
can get tested and treated, the better your
long-term health is likely to be.
• Diabetes is the commonest cause of
complete kidney failure
• Maori and Pacific people with diabetes
have an increased risk of kidney failure.
• Early detection and treatment
of diabetic kidney disease can
prevent or slow the progression
of kidney disease.
1. Have your blood pressure checked
2. Check for the presence of protein in
your urine through taking a simple
dipstick test.
New Zealand Kidney Statistics
• There are more around 2800 people
receiving some form of dialysis
• Early kidney disease is silent. Over
80-%of people with it are unaware of it.
• There are around 1700 people with a
functioning kidney transplant
• The incidence of end-stage renal disease
among, Pacific Islanders and Maori is
considerably higher than in the nonindigenous populations, and most of the
kidney failure is attributed to diabetes.
Despite the high incidence of kidney
failure among indigenous people,
few receive kidney transplants, and
geographic and economic constraints
limit the availability of dialysis treatment.
Consequently, clinical management
should emphasise prevention, screening,
and early intervention.
• There are around 300,000 people
in New Zealand with Chronic Kidney
Disease and only around 10% know they
have it.
The good news is that there are things we
can do to protect our kidneys. To test that
your kidneys are functioning properly:
• There are over 600 people on the
waiting list for a kidney transplant
• There were only 139 kidney transplants
performed in 2014
• 547 new patients started some form of
dialysis in 2014
www.kidneys.co.nz
Free help line 0800 543639
(KIDNEY)
Clinical Trials Unit Is On the Move!!!
The Clinical Trials Unit, along with
its team of ten research nurses and
a research manager is moving from
its current location on the Tauranga
Hospital campus to 850 Cameron Road,
Tauranga, across the road.
A purpose built facility has been constructed to
optimise the care delivery to the participants of 36
current clinical trials being carried out within the
Unit.
The Clinical Trials Unit was established within
the Bay of Plenty Clinical School Charitable Trust
by Head of School, Professor Peter v