Experts have urged Nigerians to adopt healthy lifestyle choices and kidney-friendly diets to keep kidney diseases at bay. They gave the urge at a seminar organised by the Kidney Foundation for Africa, a non-governmental organisation, to commemorate the World Kidney Day (WKD) in Lagos. World Kidney Day (WKD) observed annually on the 2nd Thursday in March, is a global health awareness campaign focusing on the importance of the kidneys and reducing the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide.

“Kidney disease progresses for years before the individual knows; it is part of what we do or what we failed to do to keep ourselves healthy. Many people eat foods that should not be taken including sugary drinks; those kinds of consumption of unhealthy food can lead to kidney disease.”

Prof. Green who is also the Chief Executive Officer, Cardiac and Renal Centre, Lagos said, the kidney is an essential organ that helps in filtering the wastes in our body, “but if the kidney is damaged, all wastes start to accumulate in the body, making the person very ill.”

 “Mothers must feed their children with healthy foods including vegetables and fruits. We need to start investing in our health, if we want to achieve total wellness. We have become so lazy that we do not take a walk anymore. The skin is supposed to excrete most of the sweat, but it does not anymore, because we do not exercise enough.”

Also speaking, a gynaecologist, Dr Yolanda George-David tasked Nigerians on taking responsibilities in caring for their health.Adding, a Consultant Chemical Pathologist, Pathcare Laboratories, Lagos, Dr Tolu Adewole, said that with proper regulation of drug use, a lot of diseases could be prevented including kidney diseases.

According to him, there was need for the Federal Ministry of Health to get all stakeholders in the system to regulate the practice of medicine. “The ministry should look into the way the medical practice is being regulated and it has to be around boundaries, but where there is no law there is no crime. Many just walk over to the counter to get drugs that were not prescribed by the doctors and then, they start to abuse these drugs; this contribute to kidney problems.”

On his part, the Executive Director, Kidney Foundation for Africa, Mr Clinton Peters, called on the government at all levels to create more awareness about kidney diseases. Peters said that early detection was important in preventing kidney diseases.

“We need to create more awareness about the need for people to regularly do basic checkups including blood pressure and sugar levels to detect early and treat promptly any problem identified.” he said.

The theme for this year’s WKD is ‘Kidney Disease & Children,  Act Early to Prevent it.