Tackling health inequalities

Addressing kidney health inequalities in the UK is a priority for our organisation following the publication of our report Kidney Health Inequalities in the UK: an agenda for change in March 2019.

We established a health inequalities advisory group made up of internal and external experts. Their recommendations will help inform our activities and add to our influence, so we can make sure we use our voice to benefit those affected.

The research community shares our appetite for improvement. We received several applications for research projects addressing health inequalities, and we were able to fund seven of them.

Our peer educators – staff and volunteers from the same cultural background as the communities we want to reach – continue to be successful. This community engagement on topics around kidney health and organ donation is thriving, particularly in Scotland.

Influencing at a community level

We hosted the first ever Imam’s conference in Scotland working with the Scottish Government discussing issues around organ donation in Islam. 35 Imams attended the Glasgow event, hearing leading Muslim scholar Mufti Zabair Butt speak on his research around the issues and the fatwa he wrote.

We are helping NHS Gloucestershire Hospitals Trust to use our peer educator model to engage with ethnic minority communities on organ donation.

Bushra Riaz, our peer educator coordinator in Scotland, received a Community Angel award from support service provider Amina recognising her work raising awareness about kidney disease, health and organ donation within South Asian communities in Scotland.

Over 1,000 people have been inspired to sign the organ donor register

in Scotland thanks to our work – a great milestone for the sixth year of the peer educator initiative funded by the Scottish Government.

We brought information to thousands of people celebrating the 550th anniversary of the birth of the Sikhism founder Guru Nanak at a huge event at Gravesend Temple. Peer educators including Dr Kiran Sanghera explained the impact of kidney disease on people’s lives, especially Asian communities, and the importance of organ donation in the context of Sikhism.

Covid-19 – an extra threat to kidney health

We are concerned about the long-term implications for survivors of coronavirus. Survivors of severe Covid-19 infections may also face long-term health consequences, even after emergency dialysis in intensive care has ended. Those who have experienced acute kidney injury are at increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease and of their kidneys eventually failing.

We are also deeply concerned about the potential for additional risk in populations already at higher risk from kidney disease. People from ethnic minority backgrounds are 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with and die from Covid-19 than white people and some groups have higher rates than others. Our 2019 report into health inequalities showed that people from ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to progress faster into kidney failure and need dialysis or a transplant.

The complex mix of societal and biological factors contributing to kidney health we identified in our report needs to be compared with those at play with Covid-19. We are committed to addressing these questions with research, and will be seeking support to tackle the lasting risks faced by these vulnerable communities.