To honor 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, the ISN continues to present accounts from nurses around the world: Laughing as a group while on dialysis sounds a little strange. How can you pretend to laugh? How can you laugh when you’re in pain, feel tired, and are stuck to a...
ISN President, Vivekanand Jha, spoke at the online event “Leaving No-one Behind: The Need for a Person-Centred, Inclusive NCD Agenda Confirmation” organized by the NCD Alliance on November 5, 2020. This roundtable event focused on the challenges of the current NCD response and key opportunities and solutions to go beyond a siloed NCD agenda, notably...
The ISN participated in the resumed 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) organized by the WHO, which took place virtually from November 9-14, 2020. The ISN submitted three statements focusing on: The prevention and control of kidney disease and other NCDs. Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition. WHO’s work in health emergencies. Recordings of the sessions, including the statements presented...
The International Society of Nephrology (ISN) congratulates the WHO on its work delivering essential services to affected populations during health emergencies. People living with kidney disease are extremely vulnerable during health crises, being at higher risk of contracting more severe illnesses. Indeed, those requiring dialysis tend to have weaker immune systems, which makes it harder...
Given the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people living with NCDs and circulatory conditions such as kidney disease, diabetes, CVD, and stroke, the International Society of Nephrology, International Diabetes Federation, World Heart Federation, and World Stroke Organization reiterate our support for Political Declaration (A73/5) on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. As...
Given the strong association between poor maternal, fetal and child nutrition, and an increased risk of kidney disease in adult life, the International Society of Nephrology welcomes the adoption of the World Health Organization Decision EB146(20) on maternal, infant and young child nutrition. Poor maternal health and nutrition before and during pregnancies can have adverse...
The ISN is currently liaising with the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) Group of States representatives to ensure that a forthcoming partnership agreement between these blocs promotes UHC in all ACP countries, particularly regarding optimal health care for patients living with kidney diseases. The Cotonou Agreement, signed in 2000 by the...
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SharE-RR (SHARing Expertise to support the set-up of Renal Registries) workshop, scheduled to take place at the World Congress of Nephrology 2020, was unable to go ahead as planned. The program, developed by the SharE-RR advisory group to share knowledge and experience in establishing renal registries, was re-worked from a...
The 2021 World Kidney Day Campaign (WKD) content is now available in Arabic, Chinese (simple and traditional), French, Greek, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Thai. These newly translated pages include details of the 2021 WKD theme and call for action to facilitate local awareness-raising activities. A series of WKD 2021 campaign images presenting the 2021 focus on living...
Professor Ifeoma Ulasi, University of Nigeria, ISN Advocacy Working Group member, and Paul Laffin, ISN Advocacy Director, participated in the WHO Stakeholder Consultation on the Development of the WHO Global Diabetes Compact on October 14, 2020. The WHO Global Diabetes Compact, to be launched in April 2021, builds on the Global Hearts Initiative to focus...
The ISN continues to strengthen its collaboration with the World Health Organization during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, besides attending the World Health Assembly, the ISN will participate in the 72nd Session of the Regional Committee of WHO for the Americas and the 71st session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for the Western...
World Kidney Day (WKD) 2021 takes place on Thursday, March 11. The 2021 campaign will focus on, “Kidney Health for Everyone, Everywhere - Living Well with Kidney Disease.” Initiatives will concentrate on raising awareness of effective symptom-management to improve patients’ quality of life and encouraging patient self-empowerment to ensure that people with kidney diseases can...
Professor Donal O’Donoghue, Chair of the ISN’s Advocacy Working Group, was among a distinguished panel of experts who gave evidence at the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee hearing on the Science of COVID-19 in the UK. Presenting at the beginning of the virtual session on Tuesday, September 15, Professor O’Donoghue outlined the...
The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to disproportionately impact people living with kidney disease. It is, therefore, more important than ever to monitor the care being delivered to patients with kidney diseases and to use data to advocate for those at risk of adverse outcomes. Recognizing this, the ISN has launched several data collection initiatives over the past few...
Ethical challenges in nephrology: a call for action by the ASN/ERA-EDTA/ISN Joint Working Group on Ethical Issues in Nephrology, has been published in Nature Reviews Nephrology. The paper identifies ten broad areas of ethical concern as priority challenges that require collaborative action to highlight the need for ethical analysis of issues within kidney care and to...
On May 18, 2020, the ISN represented the global kidney health community at the 73rd session of the WHO’s World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva. At this historic WHA, which took place virtually due to COVID-19-related restrictions, delegates adopted a landmark resolution to press for solidarity in addressing the pandemic. The resolution calls for a joint and intensified effort...
A press conference takes place in Honduras as part of the WKD 2020 campaign World Kidney Day (WKD) has released its Impact Report from the WKD 2020 Campaign which highlighted the importance of lifestyle interventions to prevent kidney diseases. On March 12, 2020, over 1200 WKD activities in almost 100 countries raised awareness of accessible approaches toward kidney health. Diverse regional...
The International Society of Nephrology (ISN), with its mission to improve kidney health worldwide and ensure that all people have equitable access to sustainable kidney health, has noted with alarming concern that President Donald Trump has formally moved to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO). The global healthcare community has appreciated the...
World Kidney Day (WKD) organizers, ISN and IFKF, wish to thank all partners and collaborators who helped advance the WKD 2020 message highlighting the importance of preventive measures and the need for increased awareness in kidney disease prevention during this year’s event. The 15th edition of WKD was marked worldwide on March 12 by stakeholders, regional and...
To celebrate World Kidney Day (WKD), the ISN dressed the Manneken Pis fountain in Brussels in WKD colors to raise awareness of kidney health issues and activities. The ISN team explained to onlookers the significance of the costume as it was unveiled, encouraging the public to use #worldkidneyday to accompany photographs taken of the WKD Mannekin Pis. The ceremony was...
