According to reports, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) affects approximately 195 million women worldwide and is currently the eighth leading cause of death in women, leading to 600,000 female deaths each year.

Globally, women are more often affected by certain types of kidney diseases such as lupus nephritis (a kidney disease caused by an autoimmune disease) and pyelonephritis (kidney infection).

Kidney disease is also linked to complications with pregnancy; women who have CKD are at increased risk for negative outcomes in pregnancy, both for the mother and the baby; in turn, pregnancy-related complications can increase the risk of kidney disease, according to some reports.

Therefore, organisations are focusing on Women's Day this year to spread awareness about the need to ramp up efforts to increase awareness about CKD among women.

Dr. Suresh Sankar, Chief Medical Officer, DaVita Care (India) Pvt. Ltd., said, "It is possible that kidney disease is marginally lower in women in India because major risk factors for kidney disease such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking behavior are reported to be lesser in women. However, we observe significantly fewer women patients on dialysis for CKD in India; the Indian CKD Registry [a voluntary reporting body of CKD patient data, capturing a small proportion of CKD reaching nephrologists in India] reports only about 30 per cent of CKD patients consulting a nephrologist are women. In addition, women are more likely to be donors than recipients of kidney transplants, which perhaps highlights a gender disparity in access to healthcare."

Aditya Singh, MD, DaVita Care (India) Pvt. Ltd., said, "DaVita in India is committed to increasing awareness about CKD via no-cost kidney education classes and kidney screenings, which are easily accessible to women. Our website provides plenty of resources on kidney education including over 70 kidney-friendly recipes. This year's World Kidney Day theme is Kidneys and Women's Health. As we celebrate World Kidney Day and International Women's Day in DaVita via online campaigns and other activities, we hope to initiate inclusive conversations on women's health and encourage them to take charge of their well-being."

DaVita Care (India) Private Limited is a part of DaVita Inc., a Fortune 500 company, and a provider of kidney care in India, delivering dialysis services to patients with chronic kidney failure and end-stage renal disease.

Earlier a partnership between DaVita Inc. and NephroLife Care (India) Pvt. Ltd., DaVita in India offers India's first-of-its-kind renal disease management center bringing together expertise in nephrology, dialysis, urology, vascular surgery, general medicine, diet, lifestyle management and diagnostics, the company said in its release.

Image: DaVita Kidney Care India/Facebook