Everyone should play a part in kidney disease prevention

Given recent discussions on the rise of kidney disease here and its prevention, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) feels that we should all come together to promote healthy living and build a healthier community.

Good food choices and nutrition, regular exercise, appropriate health checks and maintaining a healthy weight are effective lifestyle interventions that can help reduce the risk of kidney diseases.

In the past two years, the NKF has partnered others in the community to organise health education and awareness programmes such as screenings, talks and outreach events year-round.

We are also thankful for the collaboration with schools, through our Schools Outreach Programme, in which pupils learn to care for their kidneys by adopting healthy lifestyles.

Our Kidney Health Education Bus, with interactive exhibits, brings preventive health care to the doorstep of schools, grassroots and religious organisations. We will have our diabetes screening bus later this year. More such buses are in the pipeline.

Early education on kidney diseases and their treatments should be instituted, as more people are getting diabetes at a younger age.

Companies can do their part to motivate employees to care for their well-being. Through programmes such as the NKF’s Healthy Mondays, companies engage their employees to create a culture of wellness at the start of the week.

It is our privilege to have LionsXII captain Isa Halim volunteer to play an active role in raising awareness on kidney disease education and prevention, especially among youth and the Malay community (“LionsXII captain Isa Halim is new NKF ambassador”; April 12, online).

Family members of kidney failure patients have a higher risk of developing diabetes, hypertension and kidney diseases. We encourage them to go for health screenings for early detection of and intervention in diseases.

We are grateful to the media and social agencies for helping to motivate the common folk to pay more attention to their kidney health.

The NKF will continue to work closely with organisations from all sectors and individuals from all walks of life to enhance preventive health care.

We have set aside $10 million for our Education and Prevention Fund to continue investing in ways to educate people on the importance of kidney disease prevention and empower the community to take charge of their health and stay healthy.

Remember, kidney failure is irreversible. For more information, visit www.nkfs.org or call 6299-0200.