Sun, pesticide possible cause of strange kidney damage in farmers —Expert

Although evidence suggests that kidney disease is majorly caused by high blood pressure and diabetes, a kidney expert, Professor Rasheed Balogun has warned of increasing cases of kidney problem occurring in healthy people due to long exposure to heat from the sun and pesticides.

Balogun, a kidney expert at the University of Virginia, in a guest lecture at the opening of the 32nd annual general meeting and scientific conference of the Nigerian Association of Nephrology (NAN), said more than 200,400 people in their early lives have died from this unexplainable kidney disease across the world.

According to him, these deaths had been common in people involved in outdoor jobs under excessive heat conditions like agricultural workers that had very little access to cool or cold water, who have been exposed to pesticides.

The expert said this strange kidney disease had killed globally more people that Ebola virus disease because most people affected cannot afford kidney dialysis or transplant treatment that they need to get well.

He declared that the strange disease was first noticed in rice farmers in Sri lanka late 1980, who was healthy and with diabetes and hypertension, but exposed to pesticides.

Professor Balogun added that the strange kidney disease has also been documented among cocoa farmers in Cameroon.

He said a mild and repeated injury kidney from dehydration and heat stress may have caused the kidney disease.

According to him, “The International Society of Nephrologists and other people have been trying to raise the awareness of this condition that is called chronic kidney disease of uncertain aetiology (cause).

“It is thought that this disease is common in people who have excessive heat in their work environment and very little access to cool or cold water. So my suggestion is workers in such environment be provided with enough cool or cold drinking water and should take enough breaks from the sun.”

Professor Balogun said back in late 2018, the World Health Organisation had warned that the greatest challenge to human’s health is the climate change which contributes to 250,000

Emeritus Professor Wale Akinsola, the chairman at the lecture, said there was an urgent need to design a national strategy for a comprehensive, all-inclusive, equitable, accessible and cost-effective kidney care in the country in an integrated and well-coordinated primary, secondary and tertiary care system.

Akinsola said Nigeria should harness and leverage on its 30,000 nationwide community based primary healthcare centres, school health clinics and workplace clinics to promote the prevention of kidney diseases.

Professor Akinsola put the annual cost of maintaining dialysis per patient  at between N5.5 and N6.0 million and the cost of maintaining 500 patients with kidney failure at between N4 and N6 billion.

At the occasion, the International Society of Nephrology award was presented to Emeritus Oladipo Akinkungbe, former president of NAN for his role in the development of nephrology and career-long commitment.