WASHINGTON:
The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the largest independent kidney patient organization in the USA, and its strategic partners at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) continue to make a unique impact in the international battle against kidney diseases.
Their 2021 annual Global Summit on Kidney Disease Innovations focused on expanding patient consumer choices and improved health outcomes, engaged a combined audience of over 20,000 viewers across 80 countries, exceeded their 2020 virtual attendance record established at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and continues to draw viewers worldwide to their online content.
The Global Summit is a key component of AAKP's The Decade of the Kidney™, an AAKP global initiative (read article) launched in 2019 for the 2020-2030 decade to help U.S. and international policymakers better address the devastating human and societal costs of kidney diseases based on patient-defined priorities.
The Global Summit has accelerated engagement in an expanding international consortium of influencers, led by patient consumers and advocates, committed to a new era in kidney medicine marked by more inclusive clinical trials, greater use of patient insight data, personalized medicine, and disruptive technologies including artificial implantable and wearable kidneys. The patient-led consortium includes academic and medical researchers, clinical trial designers, innovators, capital market investors, companies, non-governmental and faith-based organizations, as well as elected and appointed government leaders across the globe.
Kidney patients worldwide are demanding an end to outdated dialysis care, characterized by staggeringly high mortality rates, and greater access to new products and solutions aimed at detecting, preventing, and treating kidney diseases earlier and in ways that improve quality of life and decrease dependency and disease-related unemployment. They are also organizing and coordinating their policy and grassroots efforts in a sophisticated effort to advance more common sense regulatory and payment reforms that prioritize patient needs and fully support the timely entry of new, safe products into global consumer markets.
''As a researcher in molecular biology and genetics, I seek to personalize medicine by genes and molecular pathways, but I think it is more important to personalize by patient needs. This, I believe, is the key take home message from The Global Summit and I am very proud of my colleagues across the globe who are actively incorporating the unique insights of kidney patients in their research and discovery of new therapies to prevent and treat the growing spread of kidney diseases.'' Hilde Vautmans, Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Chair of MEP Kidney Health, and Deputy Coordinator for the Committee on Foreign Affairs for a Renew Europe (EU) provided a virtual presentation in which she praised kidney patients worldwide for their efforts to work alongside government leaders in the fight against kidney diseases.
Further, Vautmans invited greater cooperation among elected leaders in the European Parliament and the U.S. Congress, especially among like-minded members of the U.S. Congressional Kidney Caucus, stating,
''This battle is difficult. And I can speak from experience here, but […] change is possible […] but we can and have to act more. In Europe but also in the United States. I always say we need more awareness, more funding and more innovation. Today I want to add a fourth element and that is collaboration, because as we all are aware and all are witnessing, diseases know no borders. So, let's work together We share a common goal, on both sides of the Atlantic: We must further improve the lives of people with Kidney Disease!''