Emphasis on Advancing Kidney Health through EU Funding Programs and Partnerships at the Annual European Kidney Forum
The ISN’s partner, the European Kidney Health Alliance (EKHA), alongside the MEP Group for Kidney Health, held its annual European Kidney Forum on June 18, bringing together high-level stakeholders to discuss concrete policies to benefit kidney patients in Europe.
This year’s forum, “Unmet needs & challenges in access to treatments in Europe: the case of Chronic Kidney Disease,” was organized as part of EKHA’s Decade of the Kidney™ campaign.
The EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, who introduced the forum, flagged the importance of tackling risk factors like diabetes and hypertension and following a “patient-centered approach” to prevent kidney disease. She also referenced the EU4Health and Horizon Europe funding programs as potential avenues to advance kidney health.
The ISN was pleased to hear MEP Hilde Vautmans and MEP Manuel Pizarro, chair and co-chair of the MEP Group for Kidney Health, support the World Kidney Day campaign and voice the need to raise awareness and develop concrete EU action on kidney health issues.
The ISN welcomed Hilde Vautmans’ remarks on the EU’s role in improving kidney health in LMICs. She stated, “The EU could play a role in improving kidney health and access to treatment in LMICs, which are disproportionally affected by CKD, via the Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific Partnership and the Africa-EU Partnership.”
The ISN also appreciated Manuel Pizarro’s contribution. He commented on the importance of future EU research funding opportunities on kidney disease, affirming, “We now have a fantastic opportunity to improve the lives of kidney disease patients with the momentum of the European Health Union and ambitious programs such as Horizon Europe. I have already seen positive examples […] as it recently published a call on medical technology and devices that made a specific reference to radically portable dialysis. I hope future calls will follow suit as ground-breaking innovation in this field is urgently needed, especially in preventing the progression of kidney disease.”
The ISN is committed to working alongside the EKHA and the EU to help develop forward-looking policy solutions to improve the lives of people suffering from kidney disease in Europe and elsewhere.
