We can do both. I don't think anyone who encourages kidney donation wouldn't also advocate for encouraging healthy lifestyles and slowing down the progression of acquired kidney disease.
I have a genetic disease that ends in kidney rejection 100% of the time, with no real way to prevent the progression of the disease. I'm healthy, exercise often, eat well. I've never been overweight or had the slightest whiff of hypertension, I run every day along with other exercise, and my kidneys still failed. Some percentage of kidney disease is going to be like me.
I will say one thing that absolutely should change is better screening for kidney disease. A lot of times it's discovered because blood testing from some other thing coincidentally found a low GFR or high creatinine levels, and even then something like a 60-70% GFR is often dismissed by doctors. Fortunately we discovered the gene that causes my family's disease, so in our case we can be screened via blood tests, but for kidney disease without such a simple genetic cause we shouldn't leave identification and diagnosis up to luck.
I have a genetic disease that ends in kidney rejection 100% of the time, with no real way to prevent the progression of the disease. I'm healthy, exercise often, eat well. I've never been overweight or had the slightest whiff of hypertension, I run every day along with other exercise, and my kidneys still failed. Some percentage of kidney disease is going to be like me.
I will say one thing that absolutely should change is better screening for kidney disease. A lot of times it's discovered because blood testing from some other thing coincidentally found a low GFR or high creatinine levels, and even then something like a 60-70% GFR is often dismissed by doctors. Fortunately we discovered the gene that causes my family's disease, so in our case we can be screened via blood tests, but for kidney disease without such a simple genetic cause we shouldn't leave identification and diagnosis up to luck.