How to advocate for the inclusion of chronic kidney disease in a national noncommunicable chronic disease program

Many countries are developing or refining national strategies for noncommunicable chronic disease (NCD) prevention and control.1 Most such strategies follow the World Health Organization (WHO) priorities for key NCDs, especially cardiovascular disease and diabetes.2 Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is both a cause and consequence of other NCDs; CKD acts as a risk multiplier for all four key WHO NCDs; CKD is associated with high health-care costs; CKD is readily identifiable; and treatment of CKD improves outcomes at a reasonable cost.3 These observations argue in favor of including CKD in national NCD programs. The purpose of this document is to outline key steps in advocating for the inclusion of CKD in national NCD strategies (termed ‘CKD advocacy’ for brevity below).