WCN’23 for the Data Enthusiast: Elliot Tannor on Why You Should Join the Workshop on Renal Registries
Once again, there is a global gathering of nephrologists and stakeholders interested in promoting kidney health and kidney disease management – this year in Bangkok, Thailand.
The World Congress of Nephrology (WCN) presents a prime opportunity to help advance renal registries worldwide. The SHARing Expertise to support the set-up of Renal Registries (SharE-RR) session takes place as part of pre-congress activities on Thursday, March 30, from 1.30 p.m. Data enthusiasts, this is the session for you!
The program will include talks on the current state of registries worldwide from the ISN–Global Kidney Health Atlas as well as recent data and lessons on getting started.
You’ll also have the opportunity to hear from advanced renal registries like the Thailand Renal Registry. This will set the tone for deliberations on improving renal registry data collection and using data effectively as an advocacy tool.
Quality data is necessary to improve advocacy initiatives based on facts rather than speculation. Governments and health authorities will only become interested in kidney disease – a neglected non-communicable disease – if they receive timely data on its burden on global health.
A reliable renal registry enables us to present accurate reports on kidney diseases. When we can show the increasing incidence and prevalence of kidney disease, especially for low- and lower-middle-income countries (LMIC), and its economic and social impact on a country, then it will become urgent for governments to allocate more money for kidney disease research and the optimum management of people with kidney disease.
According to the ISN-Global Kidney Health Atlas, less than 10% of patients with kidney failure in LMICs have access to kidney replacement therapy (KRT). With a reliable registry, we can report metrics from individual countries that may demonstrate that the actual percentage is far lower.
You are most welcome to join the SharE-RR workshop and connect with colleagues trying to set up or improve renal registries. You will be glad you did. See you in Bangkok, Thailand!
