American Kidney Fund Announces Major Support from AstraZeneca to Address Health Equity in Kidney Disease

ROCKVILLE, Md. (November 3, 2021) — The American Kidney Fund (AKF) today announced that AstraZeneca is committing a major foundational investment to support AKF's work to advance health equity by addressing racial disparities in kidney failure. With this investment, AstraZeneca deepens its partnership with AKF and provides critical support toward AKF's goal of delivering more equitable kidney care for all.

AstraZeneca's support will allow AKF to develop a platform of programs, resources and policies that tackle health disparities faced by communities of color, who are disproportionately impacted by kidney failure. The partnership will expand AKF's existing relationships with communities of color, organizations that represent and serve these communities and renal professionals.

"Kidney disease impacts people of all backgrounds and demographics; however, people of color disproportionately progress to kidney failure due to inequities in our health care system," said LaVarne A. Burton, AKF President and CEO. "AKF is grateful to AstraZeneca for again partnering with us to tackle health disparities and provide kidney patients, especially those in underserved communities, with an equitable opportunity to attain their full health potential."

"AstraZeneca is committed to addressing health disparities and ensuring every patient who is a part of the kidney disease community has an equal opportunity to be as healthy as possible," said Martha Orzechowski, Head of US Advocacy and Alliance at AstraZeneca. "We are honored to continue our partnership with the American Kidney Fund on this important effort to help eliminate discrimination from the delivery of health care."