Kidney Disease Research Updates
Spring/Summer 2007

NKDEP Forms Federal Kidney Network

The National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP) is spearheading an effort to improve coordination in the Federal response to chronic kidney disease (CKD) care with the creation of the Kidney Federal Agency Network (KFAN).

The KFAN is an informal group of Government professionals involved in CKD activities. The network also includes those who serve populations at risk for CKD, such as people with diabetes, African Americans, and older adults. The purpose of the network is to share knowledge and tools to help coordinate goals, messages, and activities related to CKD.

“Many agencies and divisions within the Health and Human Services Department lead some aspect of the multifaceted response to CKD, such as surveillance, detection, treatment, health care quality and access, transportation, and dialysis,” said NKDEP Director Andrew Narva, M.D. “To date, these efforts have been mostly uncoordinated, creating some contradictions, redundancies, and gaps.”

As the KFAN coordinator, the NKDEP creates and distributes a quarterly newsletter, KFANews, highlighting Government CKD activities, and convenes meetings for KFAN members to discuss goals and ways to work together. For a copy of KFANews, contact the NKDEP at nkdep@info.niddk.nih.gov.

NIH Publication No. 07–4531
June 2007

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