Kidney disease in Paraguay

To face the problem of growing numbers of patients with end-stage renal failure, it is necessary to carry out basic epidemiologic research to detect and quantify cases early in the course of disease, and thus propose treatments designed to slow the progress of the disease. Without this type of data, it would be difficult to establish an efficient action plan for improving the development of the treatment of renal disease. Thus, we are recommending the establishment of early detection and treatment campaigns for chronic renal disease, especially in individuals at risk. It is also desirable to promote renal transplantation using related live donors. We need to cooperate with government authorities to increase the insurance coverage of patients on chronic dialysis and find the most practical ways to establish long-term dialysis programs. A major question that is hard to answer in practice is whether there should be universal insurance for dialysis and transplantation for all who need it from the outset, as opposed to implementation in successive stages, which gives priority to only a minority of the population; which could be better adapted to our financial possibilities.