New center to help patients with kidney disease

Multinational pharmaceutical AstraZeneca and the China Association of Health Promotion and Education have joined hands on the establishment of Chronic Kidney Disease Integrated Management Center in Zhengzhou, Henan province, a project aiming to foster the development of a three-tier system involving national, regional, and primary networks, and promote the standardization of integrated care for patients with chronic kidney disease.

The center was established under the guidance of Liu Zhihong, director of the National Clinical Research Center of Kidney Diseases, Jinling Hospital, and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

It will be supervised by the China Association of Health Promotion and Education, and supported by the company.

The center will prioritize disease prevention, while facilitating early-stage screening, standardized diagnosis and treatment, and long-term management, aiming to further improve the prognosis of patients with chronic kidney disease, delay disease progression, and improve the quality of life for patients and their families, so as to finally meet the desire of patients with chronic kidney disease to pursue a better life, the company said.

According to Liu, the incidence of chronic kidney disease in China is about 10.8 percent, and the set-up of a national comprehensive system for the prevention and treatment of chronic kidney disease will help effectively manage patients with chronic kidney disease and achieve overall screening of high-risk populations.

In the traditional diagnosis and treatment of chronic kidney disease, due to the unnoticed onset and low awareness rate, most patients with chronic kidney disease are often diagnosed in late stage, thus causing irreversible damage.

To address unmet treatment needs, the center will provide an efficient and convenient one-stop integrated management solution, so that patients can be identified through screening in the early stage, and receive timely standardized treatment and effective whole-process management, together with reduced risks of dialysis and kidney transplantation, lower overall costs and eased disease burden.

Also, by setting up an efficient referral mechanism and a coordinated system, it will effectively improve medical capability at primary hospitals, enabling patients to have access to high-quality medical services at their "doorstep" and allowing those with critical illness to be treated without leaving their county.

Based on the three-tier mechanism that links the national center, core medical institutions and primary networks, the center will effectively support the strategy for chronic kidney disease management, and help realize early detection, effective prevention and control, and standardized diagnosis and treatment of chronic kidney disease in China.

Michael Lai, general manager of AstraZeneca China, said: "China has a huge number of patients with chronic kidney disease, who are in urgent need of innovative treatment and management solutions.

"We will join hands with our partners to build the chronic kidney disease management center, and step up efforts to create the most professional industry platform in the field of nephrology.

"We aim to advance standardized treatment of chronic kidney disease in China, and make joint efforts to help realize the dream of kidney disease patients to pursue a better life."