Combating kidney failure with awareness

Mar 16, 2014 News

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 – The Kidney Foundation of Guyana remains focused three years later

By Sharmain Grainger

Guyana is currently saddled with an estimated 7,000 people suffering from kidney disease, among whom are some in the early as well as advanced stages.
This disclosure was yesterday made by Dr Claudette Harry who holds the position of Secretary/Treasurer at the Kidney Foundation of Guyana.
“We know how bad the situation is at present,” said Dr Harry, as she considered the number of dialysis centres that have been established to help treat those ailing because of kidney failure.
The Five G Dialysis Centre was arguably the first facility to offer dialysis service, but has since been accompanied by others at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, the Balwant Singh and Woodlands hospitals, along with the Doobay Renal Centre; and reports are that the St Joseph Mercy Hospital is making moves to incorporate this service as well.
“The need is great, but we don’t want to perpetuate that,” insisted Dr Harry, as she underscored that “the whole idea is that we have got to stop this.”

Dr Harry’s conviction is in fact based on the fact that treating the disease is a rather expense undertaking, not only to patients, but to the country as a whole.
As such, she noted that prevention is definitely the direction that the Kidney Foundation is advocating for. Moreover, she noted that immense focus is being directed to the prevention of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension and diabetes. And certainly there is need to address obesity, which could be an off-shoot of sedentary lifestyles and improper diets, and of course smoking.
All of these, Dr Harry noted, can be contributory factors to chronic NCDs, among which renal failure is listed. In addition, the most at-risk persons can include persons with high blood pressure and diabetes and people who have a history of kidney disease in their families.
Once people develop the disease their kidneys can stop working, thereby causing them to require dialysis or even a transplant. Further still, such persons could be subjected to an early demise due to heart disease and blocked arteries.
Moreover, the Secretary/Treasurer disclosed that the Foundation has been helping to address the existing challenge through sensitisation. The appeal being voiced by the Foundation is to “stop smoking, lower your blood pressure, reduce the amount of salt you eat, eat less sugar and more vegetables, increase your physical activity, and make sure you weigh what you should.”
The work of the Foundation was especially amplified during the past week when World Kidney Day was observed.
But according to Dr Harry, “we need more exposure…we need the help of the media with this because we really need to put a stop to this (kidney failure) situation.”
Additionally, she spoke of the need for more doctors to help address the escalation of renal failure simply by detecting from an early stage the signs and symptoms that patients may have.

INITIALISING AN AWARENESS MOVEMENT
Although the concept of the foundation was crystallised several years before, it was only on the observance of World Kidney Day in March 2011 that it really became a reality, fully endorsed by the Ministry of Health. The movement was in fact the brainchild of Professor George Nicholson, a Guyanese Nephrologist who has been attached to the University of the West Indies for a few decades.
The need for the Foundation was nestled in the concern aroused within Professor Nicholson, who has had a consultancy relationship with the Five G Dialysis Centre located in South Ruimveldt, Georgetown.
Moreover, he sought to approach a number of influential personalities including the likes of Hugh Cholmondeley (now deceased), Major General Joseph Singh, Dr Claudette Harry and Vic Insanally, among other well-known personalities. And according to Singh, who currently functions as Chairman to the Foundation, “he (Professor Nicholson) motivated us to see the merits of volunteering our services through an organisation like the Guyana Kidney Foundation in order to support the Ministry of Health and agencies involved in the health of citizens”.
Understandably, the intended focus was on the prevention of chronic kidney disease, thereby ensuring that persons at risk of developing chronic kidney disease are assisted in terms of information flow on how they could better manage their conditions. But perhaps more importantly, the Foundation was established to enlighten persons on how to avoid reaching to that stage altogether.
This was especially crucial since, according to Singh, the Foundation was privy to the fact that for many people dialysis which was long being offered was not affordable to many. In fact, statistical information even then had indicated that there was a serious problem in Guyana, as there were many people who didn’t even know that they had kidney disease.
The need to collaborate was therefore needed with partner organisations like the Ministry of Health, the Pan American Health Organisation and other agencies, in order for those at the helm of the Foundation to gain an understanding of how many people were in need of dialysis and how this could be facilitated.
Collaboration was also important to ascertain the extent of the threat of chronic kidney diseases and end stage renal failure to the Guyanese public.
And so a decision was soon made, Singh said, for the Foundation to focus on public awareness and education, with the internet being the primary means of dissemination. The Foundation currently channels crucial information via its website: www.kfg.org.gy.
With partner support, the Foundation has been engineering the distribution of posters, brochures and even the facilitating of talks to ensure that the wider population is able to get its message about the threat of kidney disease.

STRATEGIC COLLABORATION
In addition to the linkage to the Five G Dialysis Centre, the Foundation went the extra mile to forge relationships with other such facilities around the country and also overseas, a process that has been ongoing since the Foundation first launched its operational presence three years ago.
“What we have done is further that public awareness and education process,” said Singh, who together Dr Harry spoke of the evolution of the Foundation yesterday.
Public awareness has also been channelled through the Medical Council’s Continuous Medical Education (CME), so as to ensure that the medical fraternity would be exposed to kidney disease, in terms of the importance of dealing with it and having a standard approach. Moreover, the last CME in September included presentations from Professor Nicholson.
In addition to its education drive, the Foundation has also been strategically meeting with a Canada-based company which has been working to help standardise local laboratory testing facilities.
According to Singh, this is imperative, since those persons at risk for kidney disease require the services of these facilities, and it is expected that there would be an internationally-accepted testing standard, and not one that differs from facility to facility.
“The danger is you can go to one lab and the readings are very different, I think the range is between 0.1 and 1.2, and there is not much tolerance… and that would determine the treatment,” Singh explained.
He pointed out too that the Foundation has seen as important the crafting of a register for persons who are at risk, an undertaking he believes is being adequately done by the Health Ministry.
“All the community health workers from throughout the country should be able to provide information on patients, for example those who are diabetic or who suffer from hypertension which are two of the primary reasons why you end up with kidney failure,” Singh said.
He is adamant that once persons are screened and tested then the counselling and guidance on how they can manage their health to avoid getting chronic kidney disease will be more efficient. Singh is also confident that even if persons are categorised in the chronic kidney disease stage, awareness could help people avert the end-stage failure course.

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