One Million Down, 25 Million to Go

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Jul 22, 2015, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, July 22, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- EverybodyPees – the National Kidney Foundation's (NKF) fun, irreverent, animated music video promoting the importance of urine screening and the early detection of kidney disease – has surpassed 1,000,000 views on Facebook and YouTube since its June 5^th launch.

"One million unique views is an incredible and exciting milestone for NKF and it's only the first step in our public education campaign," said Jeffrey Berns, MD, President of the National Kidney Foundation. "We are making inroads in educating Americans about kidney disease and kidney health but we still have a long way to go to reach the 26 million who have kidney disease and the 73 million who are at risk."

The EverybodyPees campaign, which includes a video and website (www.everybodypees.org), focuses on the importance of urine screening in detecting the earliest signs of kidney disease. The primary goal of the campaign is to reach people who don't know about their kidneys or ways to test their kidney health.

"It's always been a struggle for healthcare organizations to reach new, at-risk audiences with prevention messages, given the costs and feasibility of reaching such large numbers of individuals," Dr. Berns said. "EverybodyPees has successfully used humor to reach and educate a new audience about the importance of urine screening. Behind the tongue-and-cheek video is a lifesaving message that we hope resonates with all generations of Americans."

In the United States, there are 73 million Americans who are at risk for developing kidney disease. Over 26 million American adults are estimated to have kidney disease, and most do not know it because signs and symptoms usually develop in the later stages. More than 40% of people who go into kidney failure each year fail to see a nephrologist before starting dialysis -- a key indicator that kidney disease isn't being identified in its earliest stages.

EverybodyPees is the first in a series of unique campaigns NKF is utilizing to promote kidney health to Americans. Future campaigns will help drive home the message that people should be talking about their kidneys when they visit their healthcare professional, especially if they have diabetes, high blood pressure, a family history of kidney failure, or are over age 60.

The National Kidney Foundation is the leading organization in the U.S. dedicated to the awareness, prevention and treatment of kidney disease. For more information, visit www.kidney.org.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150721/238964

SOURCE National Kidney Foundation