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Press releases 2008 Join the global event to highlight kidney disease Thursday 13th March 2008 is World Kidney Day. Patients, carers and health care professionals in many countries around the world will all be marking the day and we would like you to join them. Here is how you may offer your support. Events are already being planned in the United Kingdom, nationally and at local level. If you already know of one being planned, please get involved. If not, why not think about organising one of your own? This health day aims to increase public awareness of the importance of our kidneys and promote preventative measures, early detection and treatment of chronic kidney disease. The more events we can have on World Kidney Day, the more success we will have in drawing attention to the need for people to take care of their kidneys and for more care to be provided for people who have kidney disease. Some local patient groups are organising balloon releases and we will be joining with them by having a balloon release in London. Your wishes A lot of work is already underway to make improvements to diagnosis, treatment and support services for people with kidney disease. The Government has set standards for services that should be achieved by 2014 as part of its Renal National Service Framework. On World Kidney Day, we would like to reinforce to policymakers in Government the importance of this work continuing and the need for it to be backed up by resources to deliver the service standards required. You can play a role in doing this by sending us a wish. We would like you to write down a wish – how would you like kidney services to be improved in the next five years? Your wish will be placed with thousands of others into a time capsule that will be sealed on World Kidney Day at an event in the Houses of Parliament. The capsule will be reopened in 2013 at which time we will be able to see if your wish, and those of everyone else, has been fulfilled. Please send make a wish and send it to Kidney Alliance, 26 Oriental Road, Woking, Surrey, GU22 7AW; or email it to iwishes@kidneyalliance.org. We want to hear from everyone. Parliamentary reception o link into the Government’s vital role in the development of kidney services, we are holding an event in the House of Commons on 13th March. We have valuable support for this event from the All Party Parliamentary Kidney Group, which is a group of MPs from all parties who have a particular interest in services for kidney disease. The National Clinical Director for Kidney Care will be one of the speakers at the reception, which we anticipate will be attended by a large number of MPs and Peers from all political parties as well as Officials working in kidney medicine and representatives from the main organizations with an interest in kidney disease. We have also had confirmation that Health Minister Ann Keen MP intends to be present. his will provide an opportunity to highlight the progress already made towards the Government targets as well as reinforcing the need for the work to continue and for it to be properly implemented to create more and better services. Global initiative World Kidney Day is a global joint initiative organised by the members of the International Society of Nephrology and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations. In the UK, it is represented by the members of the Kidney Alliance, which is an umbrella body representing the interests of patients, charities, industry and professional groups. Of course, we will be working hard to maximize media coverage of World Kidney Day. We are working with patient organizations and groups to have a number of people available for interviews. They will talk about their experiences of kidney disease and explain why it is important that everyone should take care of their kidneys. Please get involved If you decide to do something to help, whatever it may be - you will be making a difference. You will be part of a huge number of people around the world who will be coming together on World Kidney Day. So if you organize an event or activity, don’t forget to tell us about it and tell your local press too. We can only make World Kidney Day a success if you help. To find out more, visit our UK website at www.worldkidneyday.org.uk. Or take a look at the global site by logging on to www.worldkidneyday.org. Thank you
Fiona Loud |
