Prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (Spatial Inquiry of 2016-2017) in Polonnaruwa District, Sri Lanka

Abstract

The CKD as a serious public health hazard in Sri Lanka, which is the cause of poverty and underdevelopment among affected families in various parts of the country. CKD has become a new challenge for the health sector and driven people to the loss of livelihood, productivity, and increase the cost of treatment. This paper emphasized the prevalence of CKD and unequal frequencies of the disease in different health regions (MOHs) in Polonnaruwa district, Sri Lanka. Based on primary and secondary data analysis, the results of the findings were produced in a descriptive way in which tables, maps, and charts were also administered. The study mainly used ArcGIS (ArcMap 10.3) software to identify the different distribution of CKD unequally in different health regions (seven MOH divisions) in the district. The study found that the endemic of CKD and affected patients, HD patients, and death rate also occurred unequally in each MOH division in different means. The distribution of CKD occurred due to the geographical setting, social, economic patterns of the people in the study area.
Nevertheless, this study only focused on understanding the different prevalence of CKD in each MOH division in a particular district. However, the study needs to be extended further to identify the factors and impacts due to this chronic health issue in the district and country as a whole. The study suggested that CKD has become a major obstacle to the ongoing development activities in the district; thus, the government needs to identify disseminate methods to prevent CKD from this study area, as well as from Sri Lanka