​​The Global Kidney Health Atlas is a valuable tool for supporting kidney health research and advocacy around the world. In an editorial in Kidney International, the creators of the Atlas describe the notable impact it has had on the global kidney community to date, as well as the recent re-vamping of the tool to include an interactive map. 

Dr. Adeera Levin, Executive Director of BC Renal, and head of the Division of Nephrology at the University of British Columbia, first conceptualized the Atlas. The vision was to build a comprehensive database to describe key aspects of kidney disease and care by region, in keeping with the six building blocks of universal health care. 

Levin proposed the idea to the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) during her time as president of the organization (2015-2017). ISN then identified key leaders to organize the data collection and sharing. The Global Kidney Health Atlas was officially launched in 2017 and was updated in 2019 and 2023. 

Capturing information on kidney disease demographics and incidence rates, availability and costs of kidney care services, healthcare funding structures, workforce makeup and more, the atlas currently includes data from 167 countries, covering 97.4% of the world's population. It's designed so that users can easily access the information they need, through features such as searchable and filterable data, interactive heatmaps, barcode benchmarking, trend tracking, and exportable tables and graphics.

“The idea is to understand how kidney disease and care varies across different regions and countries around the world, which would be helpful in terms of informing everything from advocacy, research capacity, and resource allocation," explains Levin, noting that no tool like this existed before. Because it is done at regular intervals, it allows people to track changes in various regions over time.

Since its launch, the Atlas has been used by the World Health Organization and United Nations to shape policy, and perhaps contributed to the most recent WHO declaration about the importance of kidney health (2025). Data from the 2023 update alone has generated more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, various region-specific reports, high-level policy reports, and presentations. 

Most recently, data from the Altas was laid out in the form of an interactive map. This format makes it even easier for users in terms of their data search and filtering, comparisons, and visualization and interpretation. 

Levin notes that the next update for the Atlas is scheduled for 2027. “So stay tuned," she says, adding that it would be interesting to create a similar database capturing variations in kidney disease and care across provinces in Canada. 

Editorial: Bridging global kidney care gap through data: introducing the International Society of Nephrology–Global Kidney Health Atlas (ISN-GKHA) Interactive Map

The Global Kidney Health Atlas: https://gkha.theisn.org/