Nigerians with kidney diseases hit five million
From Charles Coffie Gyamfi (Abeokuta) and Folasade Folarin (Abuja)
KIDNEY-related ailments may already be assuming epidemic proportion in Nigeria with five million Nigerians having the condition, while up to 10 per cent of the adult population have Chronic Kidney Disease (CDK), medical experts have warned.
And again, during a media briefing commemorating the World Kidney Day (WKD) yesterday in Abuja, Minister of Health, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, has regretted the death of 84 children due to acute renal failure, after ingesting contaminated My Pikin teething mixture in November last year.
He stated that the "government is currently prosecuting those involved in this business while further investigations continue."
A consultant nephrologist, Prof. Albert Jaiyesinmi, at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State, explained in Abeokuta that improper management of hypertension was one of the major causes of kidney problems and advised hypertension patients to always take their drugs as prescribed by their doctors .
"One major problem confronting the health sector is improper documentation", he said.
According to the professor, more kidney patients die on a daily basis than Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients in the country's hospitals.
Jaiyesinmi, who spoke in an address in Abeokuta to mark the World Kidney Day, stated that " 10 per cent of the adult population have kidney disease."
His words: "Kidney disease is silent and in the absence of a structural health care programme it is detected late , at a stage when death will be inevitable. With about five million Nigerians having kidney diseases, most of whom are untreated, we have a health problem of the magnitude of HIV/AIDS."
He canvassed a national health policy by the Federal Government on early detection of kidney disease and hypertension, alongside affordable anti-hypertensive treatment to reduce these health problems.
He said: "A policy that makes medication for treating them available and affordable, similar to that of the HIV/AIDS programme, may be necessary in dealing with this non- communicable epidemic."
Every year, millions of people die prematurely from cardiovascular diseases linked to CKD and recent studies have shown that an estimated 400-600 million persons or 10 per cent of the adult population worldwide are living with the disease as it affects an increasing number of people and cultures from all around the world.
Osotimehin said that although the exact prevalence rate of CKD in Nigeria could not be ascertained, Nigeria should be wary about recent occurrences of the disease as hospital- based data conducted in the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital in 2006 showed a prevalence of 1.6-8 per cent .
Under the theme of "Keep the pressure down," the 2009 World Kidney Day examined the symbiotic relationship that exists between high blood pressure (hypertension) and kidney diseases, which can be curbed through early detection and treatment.
People at risk of the disease include individuals with infectious diseases or non-communicable diseases as well as such risk factors as uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cancers, sickle cell diseases, violence and injuries.
The incidence of kidney failure worldwide is predicted to rise at the rate of six per cent yearly and over 1.5 million people are kept alive through dialysis or kidney transplant surgery, a number which might be doubled in the next decade if nothing is done, Osotimehin lamented.
According to the minister, the cost of dialysis is, however, unaffordable in the country as it costs about N108,000 weekly; a condition he said was "an enormous untoward economic burden, not favourable for developing countries like ours."
A report by the International Society for Nephrology (ISN), says that initially, CKD is without specific symptoms and can only be detected as an increase in serum creatinine or protein in the urine but as the kidney function decreases, blood pressure is increased due to fluid overload and production of vasoactive hormones, thereby increasing one's risk of developing hypertension or suffering from congestive heart failure.
Kidney conditions are treatable if detected early and it is strictly advised that screening be carried out on patients with diabetes and hypertension, individuals who smoke or are over 50 years of age as well as individuals with a family history of kidney disease, diabetes or hypertension in order to begin treatment early.
