UMCP Kidney Disease Screening & Awareness Program

Presenter: Rohan Jaggi, Microbiology, Global Public Health Scholars

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For my practicum, I worked with the student run organization, Kidney Screening and Awareness Program (KDSAP), to spread information about the dangers of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) to underrepresented groups and tell them how they can prevent it. KDSAP is a nationally recognized organization initially started at Harvard University that specializes in two things; student career development and community outreach. The focus is to spread awareness about CDK, a silent killing disease that leads to renal failure and can have detrimental effects on a person's life. Our mission is so crucial because 9 out of 10 people with CKD don't realize that they have it, and when they do realize it, they are already in the future stages of it. Being in the health education sub committee of the organization, we organize education workshops to present to different marginalized groups like the African American Health Program. Another event that we held was a blood pressure workshop, which highlights the link between high blood pressure and CKD. During these screening events, we talked to community members about the link and took blood pressures of individuals. Our partnered physician would then start the dialogue with the members about their blood pressure and let them know about their risks. What I learned from these events is the lack of information that is present in communities and how big the divide is between what is available and what individuals know is available. CDK is easily preventable if the information is available and resources are easily accessible.