A scheme to promote awareness of kidney disease has reached 4,500 people who are at significantly increased risk from the illness.

Kidney Research UK set up the Glasgow Peer Educator in 2010 to help the city's South Asian community.

Although kidney disease can affect anyone at any time in their life, kidney failure is up to five times more common in people from black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) communities.

It means that while 11% of the UK population is made up of people from BAME communities, the group accounts for more than a quarter of all patients on the NHS's kidney transplant waiting list.

Neerja Jain, health improvement projects manager for Kidney Research UK, said: "The increased prevalence of kidney disease among BAME communities is partly the result of genetic predisposition and partly because of lifestyle factors.

"We've found that people from these communities are also less likely to acquire valuable health information about their risk of kidney disease from conventional sources, such as their GP. This project was therefore designed to combat the spread of kidney disease by approaching those most at risk directly."

Kidney Research UK worked with the West of Scotland Regional Equality Council (WSREC) to recruit peer educators, lay people from the same ethnic background as those being targeted.

Thanks to funding from Glasgow-based Kwik-Fit Insurance Services, the charity was then able to give the peer educators specialist training so they could teach others in their community about good kidney health.

Hanzala Malik MSP, chairman of WSREC, said: "The feedback from this exercise has been overwhelmingly positive. People have pledged to take steps including reducing salt intake and increasing exercise that will benefit not only kidney health but overall wellbeing."

In all, the project succeeded in reaching more than 4,500 people from at-risk communities, including Indian Jesuit and Malayalam communities.