Today The World Stands Still

Mother, today is your Special day.

The World stands still to honour you for allowing the mystery of Life to germinate within your sacred womb.

Last week, I stood before the United Nations in Geneva.

I went as a physician. I went as a founder. And I went as a son.

The Doris Baird Memorial Dialysis Clinic in Tema, Ghana is named for my mother. She was a woman of quiet strength, deep compassion, and unwavering service. She believed that care should never be conditional. That belief is the foundation of everything we have built.

The epidemic of kidney disease in the Black community has many stories to tell.

Black Americans experience three times the risk of developing kidney failure as compared to the White population. Diabetes and hypertension remain the most common causes of end stage kidney failure. The ultimate treatment for end stage kidney disease is kidney transplantation. Home hemodialysis has been shown to improve the likelihood for kidney transplantation but unfortunately, on a national level, Black Americans are 51 percent less likely than average to receive home hemodialysis treatment.

My first exposure to kidney disease and its impact on communities of color occurred when I was in high school. An elderly neighbor, who was like a grandfather to me, had been diagnosed with kidney failure. At about the same time, my older first cousin, who had children about my age, was starting dialysis due to kidney failure attributed to hypertension. She would go on to get a kidney transplant. If you ask any African American, he or she is likely to have at least one relative with kidney disease requiring dialysis or transplantation.