Kidney disease is a worldwide killer. Treat it that way

The Nature editorial urges World Health Assembly delegates, meeting on 19 May 2025, to back a resolution led by Guatemala that would recognize chronic kidney disease (CKD)—which affects an estimated 8.5 percent of the global population and is a rapidly growing cause of premature death—as a WHO priority non-communicable disease. It argues that inclusion on the WHO’s NCD list would signal to health systems and funders to expand access to diagnosis, dialysis and transplants, integrate kidney care into existing NCD strategies and ultimately prevent millions of avoidable deaths and reduce the enormous social and economic burdens of CKD.