Living kidney donation: the importance of public education.

A sample of Malaysians in the Klang Valley indicating their decision on becoming unrelated living kidney donors was surveyed regarding huge amounts of financial incentives to be rewarded to them. From the 1310 respondents, 72.1% said "no" on becoming a living donor. The reason "I don't think humans can live with only one kidney" scored the highest (35.6%), and from the 27.9% of the respondents who are willing to donate their organ with the right financial incentive, most of the respondents picked the reasons "I want to do something noble in life" (50%), and monetary reason scored the lowest (6.2%), indicating that financial incentive is not a major reason guiding individuals' decision on becoming living donors. We suggest that the government should put priority at targeting public education to raise the understanding on the risk, safety and the quality of life of donation and transplantation, and improving the public trust on the donation and the surgical methods to carry out transplantation.

Organ donation in Muslim countries: the case of Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this paper is to look into the factors influencing Malaysian Muslims' decision to become deceased organ donors in Malaysia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We approached 900 Malaysian Muslims and 779 participated in our survey, conducted in Kuala Lumpur and its suburb. We examined their willingness to become donors and the willing donors were asked why they did not pledge to become donors. Non-donors were asked why they refuse to become donors. RESULTS: The survey found the main reason for Malaysian Muslims not pledging their organs was due to their lack of information on organ donation and/or their lack of confidence in the government's ability to properly administer organ donation procedures. Another interesting finding is that religion is not a main deterrent to organ donation. CONCLUSIONS: The survey suggests that Malaysia can explore many ways to encourage organ donation without having to resort to the highly controversial financial incentive option. A key to Malaysia's success or failure to increase organ donation rate lies in its ability to persuade its Muslim population (its largest population) to donate organs. This can be done by adopting a segmented, focused, and highly localized form of public education and by leveraging on existing networks involving local religious and community leaders as well as government and non-governmental institutions.

Strategies targeted at motivating unrelated living kidney donation.

BACKGROUND: This paper aimed to assess the willingness of Malaysians with post-secondary education to be living kidney donors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From the total of 1,310 living kidney donor respondents in Kuala Lumpur and its suburbs, we focused on 688 respondents with post-secondary education. These 688 respondents were asked whether they were willing to become living kidney donors if the government provides a reasonable amount of financial incentive. Those who were not willing to be donors (490) were then asked the reasons for their unwillingness. Six options were given and respondents can choose more than 1 option. RESULTS: Malaysians with post-secondary education remain unconvinced to be living donors even when provided with monetized incentives. The main reason cited was they are not convinced that individuals can live with just 1 kidney. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for the government to develop new ways to promote organ donation. These include strengthening government coordination of medical procedures and creating public awareness about the safety of living with 1 kidney. Setting up new institutions such as donor clinics, creating a living donor registry, and having independent donor advocates are also instrumental.

Non-organ donors' attitudes toward incentives.

Malaysians indicating that they did not intend to become organ donors upon their death were surveyed regarding interest in non-fungible financial incentives to be granted to surviving family members. Among the 730 (56% of the total sample of 1311) indicating unwillingness to be donors, 29.6% (216/730) subsequently indicated that they would be willing donors if the government introduced policies that, upon their death, "rewarded your (their) family with incentives for your (their) deeds." Among the 69% (504/730) who insisted that they would not become organ donor even with incentive, nearly 80% (404/501) of them were able to identify relevant incentives they thought should be provided by the state to those who make organ donations upon death. The majority of both groups preferred the state provide medical benefits to a surviving family member, suggesting this may be an attractive policy option for the state to raise the deceased organ donation pool.

Factors that hinder organ donation: religio-cultural or lack of information and trust.

OBJECTIVES: This paper examines factors that influence Malaysian persons with a tertiary level of education on their willingness to donate organs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey was done in the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur and its suburbs) at several designated locations. A total of 1420 people were approached, and we focused the sample of 688 respondents with a tertiary level of education. Respondents were given 2 sets of answers: (1) a religio-cultural category and (2) a structural category. They were allowed to choose more than 1 reason. RESULTS: Our findings revealed that only 47.5 percent of respondents declined becoming organ donors. The highest frequency recorded was "I am not convinced that my body part will be used beneficially " (30.1%), followed by "I do not have enough access to information " (29.2%), "I want my body to remain intact after death " (16.9%), and "It is against my religion " (9.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that religio-cultural factors are not a prime explanation for the lack of organ donation in the Malaysian case. This study suggests that better procurement methods used by dedicated agencies, as well as better education, could reduce the shortage between organ supply and demand.