March 10th is World Kidney Day. The 2016 theme is

Kidney Disease & Children – Act Early to Prevent It!

This campaign encourages and aims to facilitate education, early detection and a healthy life style in children, starting at birth and continuing through to old age, to combat the increase of preventable kidney damage and to treat children with inborn and acquired disorders of the kidney.

The World Kidney Day Team passionately believes it is important we make the general public aware of kidney diseases which affect millions of people worldwide, including many children who may be at risk of kidney disease at an early age. It is therefore crucial that we encourage and facilitate education, early detection and a healthy life style in children, starting at birth and continuing through to old age, to combat the increase of preventable kidney damage including acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease and to treat children with inborn and acquired disorders of the kidney. So, in our 11th Campaign year, let’s join forces once again to inform parents, caregivers, young patients, policy makers and the general public of the importance of identifying and treating childhood kidney diseases, instilling an awareness of the risks for their future from kidney damage that originates in childhood, therefore building healthier future generations!

Kidney disease can affect children in various ways, ranging from treatable disorders without long-term consequences to life-threatening conditions.

Acute kidney disease (AKI) is a serious condition that develops suddenly, often lasts a short time and may disappear completely once the underlying cause has been treated and if the patient receives the needed medical management, but it can also have long-lasting consequences with life-long problems.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) doesn’t disappear with treatment and tends to worsen over time. CKD eventually leads to kidney failure (end-stage kidney disease) and needs to be treated with a kidney transplant or blood-filtering treatments (dialysis) for life.

Find out more at the World Kidney Day website.