About IFKF – WKA
The International Federation of Kidney Foundations leads the way in the prevention and treatment of kidney disease, through its Membership on all continents around the world.
The Federation was formed to foster international collaboration and the exchange of ideas that will improve the health, well-being and quality of life of individuals with kidney disease. We hope to achieve this by advocating for improved health care delivery as well as adopting and disseminating standards of best practice of treatment and care. We facilitate education programs for member organisations, promote research, communicate with other organisations and exchange ideas, particularly those concerning fund raising.
The IFKF – WKA helps facilitate the establishment of more kidney foundations and to help existing foundations become more dynamic and effective. Worldwide, most individuals with chronic kidney disease or hypertension are not diagnosed until long after the illness has developed. Moreover, when they are diagnosed they are too often treated sub-optimally or not at all. In many parts of the world, once end stage kidney failure occurs, patients do not have access to dialysis or kidney transplantation.
IFKF – WKA members join together with ISN members and kidney patient associations, to celebrate World Kidney Day annually in March, to influence general physicians, primary healthcare providers, health officials and policymakers and to educate high risk patients and individuals.
History and background
During the American Society of Nephrology and National Kidney Foundation Meetings in Philadelphia 1998, Joel Kopple MD, then President of the National Kidney Foundation USA, invited representatives of kidney foundations from around the world to attend discussion groups to “explore whether there was a role for an international umbrella organisation, and what form such an organisation would take”. The IFKF – WKA was subsequently established in 1999, and IFKF – WKA International Meetings and health professional Workshops have been held.
| President | Year |
| Joel Kopple, MD (US) | 1999-2002 |
| John Knight, MD (Australia) | 2003 |
| Warwick Prime (Australia) | 2004-2005 |
| Sudhir Shah, MD (US) | 2006-2007 |
| Paul Beerkens (Netherlands) | 2008-2009 |
| Miguel Riella, MD (Brazil) | 2010-2011 |
| Timur Erk (Turkey) | 2012-2013 |
| Guillermo Garcia Garcia (Mexico) | 2014-2016 |
| Gamal Saadi, MD (Egypt) | 2016-2018 |
| Kam Kalantar-Zadeh, MD (US) | 2018-2020 |