World Kidney Day !
by Tan Min Anne
There are a lot of days where it holds a special occasion or meaning, but one should not forget ‘World Kidney Day’! It is held on the 2nd Thursday in March annually where it aims to raise global health awareness on the importance of taking care of kidneys and to expose to the public about the consequences and complications of not taking care of their own kidneys.
In conjunction with such a meaningful day, the Ministry of Health hospitals had been organizing some activities in order to achieve World Kidney Day’s theme for this year, which is ‘Kidney disease and Obesity’ as obesity is one of the highest risk factors of causing chronic kidney diseases. The Nephrology Department of Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) had organized a survey of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference among the staffs for the entire month of March as there’s a saying that said ‘to take care of people, we must first take care of ourselves’.
On World Kidney Day (9th March 2017), exhibition booths and posters were displayed in order to attract the public’s attention and to raise awareness. It definitely had caught my attention as they had gone to great length to even have two cute kidney mascots to welcome the public! Besides that, an aerobic exercise class and weight loss workshop was held in HKL to promote good kidney management practices. I believe that these are such great activities that will be able to benefit and raise awareness among the public about their own kidneys! Furthermore, a workshop on Malaysian Clinical Practice Guidelines on Management of Chronic Kidney Disease in Adults was held on 16th March. It aims to educate people with chronic kidney diseases to manage better in order to improve the quality of life. It definitely had helped a lot in answering unclear questions by patients having chronic kidney diseases.
Kidneys had been working hard for all of us and the least we can do is to stay hydrated, exercise to stay fit and eat healthily. Stay Active, Eat Right, Feel Great!
