The awareness campaign, held under the mall’s #FestivaCares CSR 

programme, aimed to encourage the community to learn more about kidney health and contribute to saving lives

Doha, Qatar – 7 March 2023: Doha Festival City, Qatar’s ultimate destination for shopping, dining, and entertainment, having recently revamped its brand positioning “It’s my Place, my Choice”, has partnered with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) to mark World Kidney Day 2023.

The World Kidney Day Joint Steering Committee has declared 2023 to be the year of “Kidney Health for All-Preparing for the unexpected, supporting the vulnerable!” This year’s event has focused on the importance of preparation for unexpected events for kidney patients, urging people to learn more about the vital role that their kidneys play in keeping them healthy.

Under the umbrella of its #FestivalCares initiatives, a booth manned by HMC was set up by the squares node on the mall’s ground floor, where doctors were present to answer questions and provide advice on kidney health and the best means to safeguard it. The booth was available on the 4th and 5th of March during the mall’s business hours to provide educational materials and brochures to give visitors more information on the matter.

Commenting on the initiative, Robert Hall, Doha Festival City’s General Manager, said: “We are 
delighted to once again partner with Hamad Medical Corporation on the heel of the great success of our joint flu vaccination campaign. Through our #FestivalCares CSR programme, we strive to 
collaborate with notable organizations in Qatar to spread awareness on important social and health issues critical to the wellbeing of society. Guests have spent valuable time at the booth to learn more about kidney health and the prevention of kidney complications from the health experts and 
educational material available, and we would like to seize this opportunity to invite them to join us for the many current and upcoming events and awareness campaigns organized regularly at the mall.”

From his part, Dr. Hassan Al Malki, Head of Nephrology at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) 
reiterated that kidney disease can affect people of any age, gender and race, and it is estimated that one in 10 people in Qatar have some kind of kidney impairment. “The kidneys perform many crucial functions, including, cleaning and filtering waste products out of your blood to produce urine, filtering extra water out of your blood balancing salts and chemicals that are necessary for your body to 
function,” Dr. Al Malki said. “There may be no signs or symptoms during the early stages of chronic kidney disease and may not become apparent until kidney function is significantly impaired. Being able to bring our kidney health message to a high profile platform like Doha Festival City and reach so many more people was a tremendous support to our ongoing campaign”, he concluded. 

World Kidney Day is a global campaign that started in 2006 as a joint initiative of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations – World Kidney Alliance (IFKF-WKA). The day is celebrated with hundreds of events around the globe to spread knowledge about preventive behaviours, risk factors, and how to live with a kidney disease.

While early detection allows for disease care and management, kidney disease related mortality 
continues to increase yearly and is projected to be the fifth leading cause of death by 2040. 
Maintaining a healthy kidney and preventing complications is a continuous process that entails several lifestyle choices, including getting active and exercising, quitting smoking, and making sure to get the kidneys checked during check-ups.

The World Kidney Day initiative comes in line with Doha Festival City’s continuous efforts to build partnerships on key initiatives to support the community. In collaboration with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Festival City hosted a flu vaccine campaign, through which the vaccine was administered to over 2000 of the mall’s visitors in January this year, as well as an awareness campaign on organ donation that contributed toward reaching 500,000 registered organ donors, 25% of its total adult population, and a Multiple Sclerosis campaign which raised awareness on the auto-immune inflammatory condition in line with World Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Day.