Across Australia, an estimated 2.5 million people carry within them a quiet deterioration they cannot feel — kidneys failing in silence, offering no pain, no signal, no warning until the damage is often beyond repair. Kidney Health Australia is now asking a simple question of those most at risk: have you taken 18 seconds to find out? The campaign is less a medical announcement than a philosophical confrontation with human nature — our tendency to trust the body's silence as proof of its health, when sometimes that silence is the very shape of the danger.
2.5M Australians Have Silent Kidney Disease With No Symptoms
2.5 million Australians are at risk of severe kidney damage and potential organ failure without early intervention and awareness.
90% of kidney function can vanish before you feel a thing
Mark
Why does kidney disease stay so hidden? People know about heart disease, cancer, diabetes—why not this?
Mimi
Because your kidneys are forgiving until they're not. You can lose most of your function and feel completely normal. There's no pain, no obvious sign. Your body just keeps working until suddenly it can't.
Mark
So by the time someone notices something's wrong, the damage is already done?
Mimi
Often, yes. That's why the test matters so much. It catches the disease when you still have time to slow it down or stop it.
Mark
Eighteen seconds seems almost too simple. How does a urine test tell you that much?
Mimi
It's not magic—it's just efficient. The test shows protein in your urine, which is a sign your kidneys aren't filtering properly. It's a window into what's happening inside.
Mark
Who's most at risk? Is it just older people?
Mimi
Older people, yes, but also anyone with diabetes or high blood pressure. Those conditions damage the kidneys over time. But really, anyone can develop kidney disease. That's why the campaign is pushing everyone to get tested.
Mark
What happens if someone finds out they have it early?
Mimi
Everything changes. Your doctor can start treatment, manage your blood pressure better, adjust your diet. You can slow the decline dramatically. You might never need dialysis. Early detection is the difference between managing a condition and losing an organ.
Mark
And if they don't get tested?
Mimi
They become part of that 2.5 million—walking around fine until one day they're not. Then it's dialysis three times a week, or a transplant, or worse.
El Pulso
- Up to 90% of kidney function can vanish before a single symptom appears, meaning millions of Australians are unknowingly living in the late stages of organ failure.
- The disease's invisibility is its cruelty — no pain, no warning signs, just a body quietly compensating until it suddenly cannot, leaving dialysis or transplant as the only options.
- Kidney Health Australia has launched a deliberately provocative campaign called 'Taking the Piss' to cut through public indifference and the embarrassment that keeps people from seeking testing.
- High-risk Australians — those with diabetes, high blood pressure, or aged over 60 — can access a simple 18-second urine test at their GP that can catch disease before irreversible damage occurs.
- The campaign is pushing for kidney screening to become as culturally routine as cholesterol or cancer checks, challenging a blind spot in how Australians approach preventive health.
Across Australia, an estimated 2.5 million people carry within them a quiet deterioration they cannot feel — kidneys failing in silence, offering no pain, no signal, no warning until the damage is often beyond repair. Kidney Health Australia is now asking a simple question of those most at risk: have you taken 18 seconds to find out? The campaign is less a medical announcement than a philosophical confrontation with human nature — our tendency to trust the body's silence as proof of its health, when sometimes that silence is the very shape of the danger.
Two and a half million Australians are living with failing kidneys and no idea. They feel well, function normally, and have no reason to suspect anything is wrong — because kidney disease offers none. Up to 90 percent of kidney function can be lost before a single symptom emerges, and by the time the body finally signals distress, the damage is often irreversible.
Kidneys are deceptively resilient. They compensate quietly for mounting injury, keeping a person feeling healthy long past the point of serious harm. It is only when function drops below a critical threshold that the consequences arrive suddenly and severely — dialysis, transplantation, or death. The silence, as Kidney Health Australia chief executive Chris Forbes explained to 4BC Mornings listeners, is not reassurance. It is the danger itself.
To break through that silence, the organisation has launched a campaign called 'Taking the Piss' — a name chosen for its bluntness, designed to disarm the embarrassment or indifference that might otherwise keep people from acting. The ask is modest: an 18-second urine test at a GP clinic. For those most at risk — people with diabetes, high blood pressure, or anyone over 60 — that brief test could be the difference between early intervention and a lifetime of medical complication.
The deeper ambition of the campaign is cultural. Australians routinely check their cholesterol and blood pressure, and many follow cancer screening schedules. But kidney disease has remained invisible in the public health conversation despite affecting millions. Forbes and his organisation want that to change — to make asking about kidney function as unremarkable as any other health check. The cost of not doing so, measured in suffering and in the billions spent on late-stage treatment, is a price that an 18-second test could help the country avoid paying.
Two and a half million Australians are walking around with failing kidneys and no idea. They feel fine. They have energy. They go to work, play sport, live their lives. But somewhere inside their bodies, their kidneys are quietly shutting down—and by the time they notice anything is wrong, it may be too late to stop the damage.
This is the message Chris Forbes, chief executive of Kidney Health Australia, brought to radio listeners on 4BC Mornings. The scale of the problem is staggering: up to 90 percent of kidney function can be lost before a person experiences a single symptom. By then, the organ has often deteriorated beyond repair. Most people never see it coming because there is nothing to see—no pain, no warning signs, no reason to suspect anything is amiss.
The silence is the danger. Kidneys are resilient organs, capable of compensating for damage until the injury becomes catastrophic. A person can lose one kidney entirely and function normally. They can lose half of both kidneys and still feel well. The body adapts, keeps working, keeps quiet. Then one day the remaining function drops below a critical threshold, and suddenly a person needs dialysis or a transplant to stay alive.
Kidney Health Australia has launched a campaign called "Taking the Piss" to break through this silence. The name is deliberately blunt—designed to cut through the embarrassment or indifference that might otherwise keep people from getting tested. The organisation is urging anyone at high risk to visit their GP for a simple urine test that takes 18 seconds. That's all. Eighteen seconds to find out whether your kidneys are failing.
Who should be worried? Anyone with high blood pressure. Anyone with diabetes. Anyone over 60. These groups face the highest risk, though kidney disease can strike anyone. The test is straightforward, accessible, and it works. It can catch disease early, before irreversible damage has occurred, before a person becomes one of the millions living unknowingly with a failing organ.
The campaign is a direct challenge to the way Australians think about health screening. Most people understand the importance of checking cholesterol or blood pressure. Many know they should get regular cancer screenings. But kidney disease remains invisible in the public consciousness, even as it silently affects millions. Forbes and his organisation are trying to change that—to make kidney testing as routine as any other health check, to make it normal to ask your doctor about your kidney function.
The stakes are high. Kidney disease leads to dialysis, transplantation, and death. It costs the health system billions of dollars each year. But most of that cost, most of that suffering, could be prevented if people knew they were at risk and got tested before the damage became irreversible. An 18-second urine test stands between millions of Australians and a lifetime of medical complications. The question now is whether enough people will take it.
Citas Notables
Up to 90% of kidney function can be lost before any symptoms appear— Chris Forbes, CEO of Kidney Health Australia
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