I know that sounds dramatic, but most people don’t get any symptoms of kidney disease until they’ve only got about 10% of kidney function left. According to Kidney Health New Zealand, about 400 people are on the kidney donation waiting list in the country at present. About one in 10 Kiwis was living with kidney disease, but many of them would not know because of the lack of symptoms until the disease was well advanced, a Kidney Health spokesperson said. “Māori are twice as likely to get end-stage kidney disease, Pacific people are more than three times likely to get end-stage kidney disease,” Walker said. Through the programme, the scholarship gave her the opportunity to study the implications of kidney disease in northern Ghana.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 30, 2026 20:34 UTC