The charities have jointly written to the national medical director of NHS England, health ministers and chief medical officers across the four nations, the officers of the All-Party Parliamentary Kidney Group and the UK permanent delegation in Geneva.

They will also be attending a meeting with officials from the DHSC to urge them to ensure the UK fully endorses the resolution. 

The resolution ‘Reducing the burden of non-communicable disease through kidney health promotion and disease prevention' recognises the urgent need for global action to prevent and manage chronic kidney disease (CKD) and will be considered at the 78th World Health Assembly in May 2025.

The resolution would put kidney disease alongside stroke, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes and cancer as a priority non-communicable disease for the WHO.  

There are four areas of focus for the draft resolution, which align closely with the UK Government's planned shifts of direction for the NHS, which are:

• To promote global awareness and education on CKD, including on CKD risk factors and preventive actions through campaigns and policy initiatives.
• To enhance prevention and early detection within primary care, targeting high-risk populations, facilitating access to cost-effective medications that can substantially delay and sometimes prevent kidney failure in a patient's life.  
• To support access to affordable and quality treatment, including progressively expanding access to CKD care and affordable kidney replacement therapy.  
• To strengthen health systems for CKD management by building capacity in low- and middle-income countries to deliver people-centered, high-quality care.