Living Donors Online Message Board
Living Donation Discussion and News => Living Donation in the News => Topic started by: Clark on February 19, 2016, 10:22:49 AM
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http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001948 (http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001948)
Transforming Living Kidney Donation with a Comprehensive Strategy
Citation: Allen MB, Reese PP (2016) Transforming Living Kidney Donation with a Comprehensive Strategy. PLoS Med 13(2): e1001948. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001948
Published: February 2, 2016
Summary Points
Despite efforts to expand access to organ transplantation worldwide, in many countries a majority of patients face several years of waiting for a kidney to become available.
While governments and the transplant community actively encourage people to become organ donors after death, analogous campaigns expanding awareness of living donation are almost nonexistent.
Research suggests altruism depends on a social context that actively encourages giving behavior.
Transplant centers should professionalize the process of helping patients find a donor and employ evidence-based approaches to increasing living organ donation.
The community should launch a campaign disseminating information about the risks and benefits of living kidney donation and encouraging the public to consider donating a kidney; this campaign should have the same energy and creativity that characterizes the efforts supporting deceased organ donation.