KITUI Health Workers sensitize patients on ways to avoid acute renal failure

 The Kitui Ministry of Health and Sanitation’s Renal Unit marked this year’s World Kidney Day with patients who have recovered from acute renal failure on a brief celebration held at Kitui County Referral Hospital.

Speaking during the event, Catherine Wangui, a Nephrology Nurse underscored that this year’s theme was “Bridging the Knowledge Gap to Better Kidney Care”.

“This year’s theme aims at helping members of the community who can access kidney care to have information that helps them to make better and informed judgement and good decision while choosing the care that they need for quality care,” she emphasized.

Wangui added that available data had confirmed that for every five males, there was one with kidney disease while for every four females there was one with kidney failure. Therefore, the disease was being projected to become the fifth cause of premature deaths globally by the year 2040.

Kidney failure

 The Nephrology Nurse added that members of the public need to develop kidney care practice.

“Kidney care helps prevent further invasion of kidney diseases because Kidney failure is not instant but it reveals itself in stages. There are those that can be rescued especially when detected earlier while there are those who can be assisted to stay with their kidney condition without abbreviating it to a higher level,” she reiterated.

Kidney failure has no specific cause but it commonly affects individuals who are diabetic and have hypertension because of the destruction of blood vessels in the body.

The Kitui Renal Unit receives patients from across the county but the most peculiar observation was that most of the patients especially men come from Mwingi region unlike Kitui region.   

Nurse Wangui said one of the best ways to avoid kidney failure is to do regular body exercise, drinking of a lot of water, avoiding over-the-counter drugs, avoiding drug and substances abuse and having a routine sugar and blood pressure check-ups.

The event was marked on March 10, 2022.

STORY By JOHN MUSEMBI