Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasingly becoming a major community and public health issue. This paper looks into CKD as both a community and public issue and proposes how concerned stakeholders and partners can be mobilized to work together toward fighting the disease.

CKD is regarded as both a community and public health issue as a result of four main reasons: firstly, the disease places a huge burden on the community, which continues to grow despite the numerous measures that have been put in place to control it. Secondly, CKD is unfairly contracted as various segments of a given population are known to be unequally affected (Couser, Remuzzi, Mendis, & Tonelli, 2011). Thirdly, there is sufficient proof that effective preventive measures could greatly reduce the burden caused by the health problem. However, the proposed preventive measures are still in process and not yet functional (Levey & Coresh, 2012).

CKD is a common community and public health concern in the United States and many more other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and even African countries. In the United States alone, there are more than 20 million people living with CKD. Although CKD already affects many people in the United States, the number is likely to increase by a huge margin in the future. The major burden caused by CKD in the United States is felt in terms of premature morbidity, mortality, low quality of life, and high costs of care for patients with the disease (Couser, Remuzzi, Mendis, & Tonelli, 2011). The health problem is also unevenly distributed in the country as it mostly affects minorities and less-fortunate families. However, there is evidence that preventive measures targeting political, economic, and environmental facto...

... middle of paper ...

...mmunity and public health issue. It has been proven that there exist various preventive measures, which are yet to be implemented, but can effectively manage CKD. For that reason, every project aimed at reducing CKD should major on encouraging the implementation of preventive strategies.

Works Cited

Couser, W. G., Remuzzi, G., Mendis, S., & Tonelli, M. (2011). The contribution of chronic kidney disease to the global burden of major communicable diseases. Kidney International, 80(1), 1258-1270.

Daugirdas, J. T. (2011). Handbook of chronic kidney disease management. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.

Levey, A. S., & Coresh, J. (2012). Chronic kidney disease. The Lancet, 379(9811), 14- 20.

Tangri, N., Stevens, L. A., Griffin, J., Tighiouart, H., Djurdjev, O., Naimark, D.,… Levey, A. S. (2011). The Journal of the American Medical Association, 305(15), 1553- 1559.