The Denver Kidney Walk, which benefits the National Kidney Foundation serving Colorado, is on Sunday, Oct, 1, 2023 at City Park.
NKF’s Kidney Walk is the nation’s largest walk to fight kidney disease and a signature community fundraiser for the NKF that provides an opportunity for families affected by kidney disease to join together in hope and solidarity.
Funds raised through participant support allow the NKF to launch public educational awareness campaigns that shine a bright light on kidney disease, a national public health crisis affecting 37 million Americans, particularly among communities of color.
Denver7 is a proud partner of the Denver Kidney Walk.
To learn more and to register for the walk, visit www.kidneywalk.org/denver.
About Kidney Disease
In the United States, more than 37 million adults are estimated to have kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney disease — and approximately 90 percent don’t know they have it. About 1 in 3 adults in the United States are at risk for kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family history. People of Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. Black or African American people are about four times as likely as White people to have kidney failure. Hispanics experience kidney failure at about double the rate of White people.
Events like the Denver Kidney Walk are critical to NKF’s Kidney Equity strategy to combat health disparities and advocate for change because it's troubling that people of color with kidney disease have a higher risk of adverse outcomes, with Black or African American people representing 13 percent of the U.S. population but make up 35 percent of those with kidney failure. Research shows that societal factors also influence health, such as poverty, education, food insecurity, and housing so a person’s zip code, not genetic code, can be a bigger factor in developing kidney disease. Recognition of these social issues reflects a broader call by NKF to re-examine institutional policies and practices and to identify where structural racism affects the risk of developing kidney disease and overall kidney healthcare. To that end, NKF is also funding new kidney disease treatments to get them to patients faster and ensuring that the public and medical professionals have access to the latest science on kidney health.
This article was paid for through an in-kind partnership.