As over two crore people are now somehow suffering from kidney diseases, leading health experts blamed poor lifestyle and unhealthy dietary practices for a massive rise of the disease.

Lack of exercise, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity are responsible for an alarming rise of kidney diseases, they told the news agency yesterday at a free kidney check-up programme in the capital's Labaid Hospital at Uttara.

Save Life Foundation and Gift Life Foundation arranged the programme on the occasion of the Martyrs Day and International Mother Language Day-2016.

Chairman and president of the foundations, respectively, Dr Sohely Ahmed Sweety said, "We have launched the programme since last year...to help the poor to get a free kidney check up....We will continue the programme throughout the year," she added.

Dr Sohely, also an assistant professor of the Nephrology Department of Dhaka Medical College, said, "Over two crore people are now somehow suffering from kidney diseases largely due to unhealthy food habits and poor life style.

Describing kidney ailment as a silent killer disease, she urged people to control their weight and to have safe drinking water.

Kidney disease has emerged as a serious public health problem as nearly 50 lakh children in the country are now somehow suffering from kidney ailment, said kidney specialist Prof Golam Muin Uddin.

Alarming rise of kidney diseases among children is a global phenomenon and early detection can save millions of children's lives, he added.

Healthy experts said birth defects and hereditary diseases are the leading causes of kidney failure of children and common symptoms for children are swelling of the hands and feet and puffiness around the eyes. Other major symptoms include lack of or decrease in appetite, decreased or increased frequency of urination, long-lasting changes in the colour of the urine such as unusually dark or red, flu-like symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, weakness, fatigue, and stunted or poor growth as compared to similar age group peers.

The majority of individuals with early stage of kidney disease remain undiagnosed, they said, adding whereas prevention and early detection can reduce morbidity and mortality from these diseases.