Kære DNS medlemmer
Vi har fået en hilsen fra “European Kidney Health Alliance” der er en organisation, der lobbyer for forebyggelse og bedre behandling af nyresygdom på EU niveau.
Dear EKHA members,
We are pleased to share important progress for kidney health at EU level.
Kidney function and albuminuria measurement have been included in the Council Recommendation on cardiovascular health checks, adopted by EU Member States yesterday. This is a significant development for the earlier identification of kidney disease and reflects a key priority that EKHA and its partners have consistently advocated for at EU level.
You can find the final text here and here
Under the Recommendation, kidney function is explicitly included as part of cardiovascular health checks. For people aged 35–64, Member States are recommended to provide systematic cardiovascular health checks at least every five years, including serum creatinine and albuminuria measurement. These kidney-related components are also carried forward for people aged 65 and over. For younger adults, the Recommendation refers more broadly to kidney function tests.
The adoption of the recommendation follows another important milestone to which EKHA has actively contributed: the European Parliament’s adoption of its report on the EU cardiovascular health strategy last week. The report contains several important provisions for kidney health, including recognition of the strong and bidirectional relationship between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD); the underdiagnosis of CKD among people with cardiovascular risk factors; the need to better integrate kidney health into cardiovascular risk assessment and care pathways; the importance of addressing multimorbidity; and the need for continued research and innovation funding in the cardiovascular-renal-metabolic (CRM) field. The text is available here.
Taken together, these developments represent encouraging EU-level progress towards earlier detection of chronic kidney disease and stronger integration of kidney health into prevention and care strategies.
Attention will now turn to the Commission takes the European Parliament’s recommendations forward and how Member States implement the Council Recommendation at National level.
We will continue to keep the EKHA network updated as these initiatives progress and as attention turns to implementation at national level.
Best wishes,
The EKHA Team