The Transplant 1st Campaign
Thousands of Canadians suffer and die needlessly each year when a kidney transplant could have restored them to optimal health. Further, billions of dollars are wasted by an inefficient healthcare system that continues to prioritize dialysis as the primary treatment for kidney failure, despite longstanding evidence that kidney transplant provides far superior outcomes, longer life expectancy, and a better quality of life.
A radical system-wide reform of the Canadian healthcare system that prioritizes kidney transplant first, as the best treatment for kidney failure, is urgently needed to optimize every patient’s chance to receive a kidney transplant and every donor’s opportunity to donate. This new kidney care model centred on transplant as the first and best treatment for kidney failure would save thousands of lives and realize billions of dollars in health care costs related to dialysis, including disability benefits, lost work productivity, increased financial burden on patients and families, and countless other social service support costs.
Our TRANSPLANT 1ST Campaign is the Alliance’s first advocacy campaign. It is an urgent call to action to reform the Canadian healthcare system to give more patients the opportunity to receive kidney transplants. Leading this call to action is the Patient Partner Coalition (PPC) of the Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada, a grassroots group of dialysis patients, kidney patients and donors working in partnership with researchers and healthcare providers.
To learn more, please read our Campaign Executive Summary or the Patient Partner Coalition Poster.
The opportunity to have a transplant is life altering. From patients to patients, this initiative to promote ‘Transplant 1st’ will spread the word to more people with CKD and potential donors to create a clear understanding of the benefits of kidney transplant.
Marian Reich, Coalition Member
Next Steps
The PPC plans to expand upon this Executive Summary and implement a Knowledge Translation Framework to help improve the care that kidney patients receive. The Coalition’s next steps in this campaign include:
- Gather kidney patients, kidney donors and other key stakeholders feedback on Executive Summary
- Incorporate feedback and release full Transplant 1st White Paper by January 2024
- Develop Government Policy Brief on the key issues from white paper for government consideration
- Engage patients, donors, family members in advancing the Transplant First campaign with government, healthcare administrators and other stakeholders.
We Need Your Feedback!
We would appreciate your thoughts and feedback on the above Executive Summary and the Transplant 1st Campaign. Please complete the feedback form below if you have any additional thoughts or would like to help us implement the campaign.