Financing kidney replacement therapy

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Abstract
In 2025, The World Health Organization adopted a historic resolution that recognises kidney disease as a global health priority and calls on Member States to include kidney care services in universal health coverage packages. However, access to kidney care, particularly kidney replacement therapy, remains highly inequitable worldwide. These disparities are particularly pronounced in resource-limited settings, where kidney disease often goes undiagnosed and untreated, leaving millions without access to life-saving care. Kidney disease is the leading cause of catastrophic health expenditure worldwide and contributes disproportionately to national healthcare costs. In January 2026, Nature Medicine published a Commission on dialysis policy in low- and middle-income countries, which aimed to resolve the ongoing dialysis policy challenges in Thailand and offer lessons for other countries working to expand access to dialysis within universal health coverage frameworks. Nature Medicine and Nature Reviews Nephrology welcomes you to this webinar, in which our speakers — Valerie Luyckx, Ole Norheim, Laura Sola and Yot Teerawattananon — will discuss the key challenges and potential approaches to improve financing for kidney replacement therapy.