Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a serious condition where the kidneys are damaged and cannot filter blood properly. Kidney disease has long been a major public health challenge in Europe, with a staggering 75 million Europeans1 suffering from CKD. Worldwide frequency of CKD has been estimated at 700-850 million people.
The pandemic has dramatically worsened the situation. Data show that CKD patients are at higher risk for COVID-19 mortality than those with other known risk factors , significant disruptions in access to care were observed during the lockdowns5 and shortages of dialysis material occurred in some cities
As such,COVID-19 shed light on the high vulnerability of CKD patients and the existing shortcomings in prevention, treatment and care of CKD in Europe. As negotiations on the various instruments of the EU recovery plan are well underway within your respective institutions, we, the European Kidney Health Alliance (EKHA), would like to urge you to address
the needs of kidney patients through ambitious and robustly funded EU4Health and Horizon Europe programs and bring to your attention 5 key recommendations that we believe should be reflected in future EU policies and initiatives:
1. Increase funding for innovation in Kidney Replacement Therapy (KRT)
2. Set up an EU-level data collection system on chronic disease including CKD and risk factors
3. Promote best practices that encourage different modes of KRT and better patient choice
4. Support digital transformation of kidney care
5. Augment efforts on CKD prevention & control