World Kidney Day is commemorated globally on March 13th each year. The theme for this year is “Are your Kidneys ok? Detect early, protect Kidney health”.

This theme focuses on combatting low awareness rates on Chronic kidney disease (CKD) worldwide, especially among high risk populations for kidney disease who should undergo targeted testing to detect the disease early and prevent its progression.

CKD is estimated to affect approximately 850 million people worldwide. If left undetected and not treated timely, CKD can progress to kidney failure, leading to severe complications and premature mortality.

By 2040, CKD is projected to become the 5th leading cause of years of life loss with less than 10% of people with CKD aware of their disease. Despite the significant disease burden, CKD is underprioritized on global and national health agenda highlighting the urgent need for global strategies to combat kidney disease.

In Ghana specifically, the prevalence of CKD is estimated to be 13.3% with very low levels of CKD awareness in Ghana and in Africa in general; estimated at 6% in the general populations and 10% amongst high-risk populations.

Healthy Heart Africa (HHA) programme; a health equity initiative endorsed by PATH with support from AstraZeneca is commemorating World Kidney Day today 13th March 2025 to advocate for awareness creation, demand generation for screening and early detection of kidney disease which will help contribute to the reduction of the burden of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and other non-communicable diseases in Ghana.

Ghana is the first among nine countries, endorsing Healthy Heart Africa, to implement the expanded program, which now includes development of CKD protocols and screening for CKD.

This effort, in partnership with governments and non-governmental organizations, is designed to support the early prevention, detection and management of cardiorenal diseases throughout Africa.

Prioritizing high-risk populations to receive routine CKD screening through health checks in primary care, enabling early diagnosis and reducing long-term healthcare costs cannot be over-emphasized.

The Healthy Heart Africa program is a response to this call to action; collaborating with experts from the Ghana Kidney Association, Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service to strengthen health systems and help address Chronic Kidney Disease and its major risk factors including hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes.

The program is tackling Kidney disease through quality service delivery, integration, advocacy, awareness creation, adoption of healthy lifestyles, andgenerating demand for care.

The program in the year 2024 screened cumulatively over 25,000 patients with Hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes for Chronic Kidney Disease in Greater Accra and Ashanti Region.

Today, the Healthy Heart Africa Programme by AstraZeneca, PATH and the Ghana Kidney Association commemorated the World Kidney Day in Accra and Kumasi with a series of activities including screening outreach program, Kidney health forum and a virtual Continuous Medical Education program with emphasis on prevention and early detection of kidney disease which have devastating and catastrophic consequences for the nation’s health systems, patients and families alike.