A. Darr et G. Randhawa, Awareness and attitudes towards organ donation and transplantation among the Asian population - A preliminary survey in Luton, UK, TRANSPLAN I, 12(5), 1999, pp. 365-371
Currently the demand for transplant organs, particularly kidneys, far outst
rips the supply in the UK. This problem is particularly severe for the Asia
n population, which has been shown to have a disproportionately large repre
sentation on kidney-transplant waiting lists in some regions of the UK. The
situation is clear: there is an urgent need to address the number of Asian
s requiring a kidney transplant, otherwise the human and economic costs wil
l be very high. An exploratory qualitative study was therefore undertaken w
ith the aim of assessing current awareness of organ donation and transplant
ation and to explore attitudes towards these issues in a cross section of t
he Asian population in Luton. It was found that nearly half of the responde
nts in this survey did not know what a donor card was used for, and approxi
mately half of these had never seen one; only 6 of the 64 people interviewe
d had heard of the National Donor Register. Of the three people who carried
a donor card, two had an immediate family member who had received a transp
lant. This suggests that media campaigns aimed at attracting donors from th
e Asian population have had limited success thus far. It appears that the v
ast majority of the Asian population is at the initial stage of the process
of making a decision about donating their organs, that of simply knowing t
hat transplantation takes place. Very little debate of pertinent issues see
ms to have taken place, which is essential for reaching a decision on wheth
er or not to donate an organ. The study should be seen as exploratory but i
s nonetheless an important initial step towards the establishment of a grea
ter knowledge and understanding of the issues affecting the low donation ra
te in the Asian population.