Mind the Gap: Disparities in Education on Organ Donation and Transplantation—Results of a Global Survey
Andrea Herrera-Gayol, Medhat Askar, Hari S. Meshram, Gabriel E. Gondolesi, Nithya Krishnan, Karen M. Dwyer, Kumud Dhital, Stephen Beed, Peter Stock, Vivek B. Kute, Carlos Diaz, Mohammad Ghnaimat, Antoine Barbari, Mario Abbud-Filho, Ban-Hock Tan, John Gill, Jeffrey Schiff, Elias J. Elenjickal, Mirela Bušic, Lara Danziger-Isakov, Hiroto Egawa, Gustavo Ferreira, Paola Garcia-Padilla, Jongwon Ha, Oscar Imventarza, Wayne J. Hawthorne, Marti Manyalich, Helen Pilmore, Marina Berenguer, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil González, Jean Tchervenkov, Shaifali Sandal, Marcelo Cantarovich,Background.
Widely accessible education on organ donation and transplantation (ODT) is a tool to reduce waiting lists, as <10% of transplant needs are met (Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation). We aimed to assess the current state of access to education on ODT worldwide.
Methods.
We surveyed transplant physicians and surgeons worldwide. Respondents were classified according to the mean deceased donation (DD) rate per million population (PMP) of their countries from 2016 to 2021 (excluding 2020): Group (G) 1 (G1) no DD reported, or no data provided to Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation; (G2) <10 DD PMP; (G3) 10–19.9; (G4) 20–29.9; and (G5) ≥30. We inquired about the availability of education on ODT in countries and regions.
Results.
We analyzed 311 respondents. We observed that the availability of education on ODT was as follows: in postgraduate education (77.2% in countries, 70.4% in regions), in undergraduate medical school (52.8%, 50.6%), in elementary school (14.2%, 14.2%), in high school (24.6%, 25.7%), and for the public (58.8%, 57.2%). The highest challenges were observed mainly in countries with lower DD rates.
Conclusions.
This worldwide survey suggests that there are areas for improvement at a global level in education on ODT, spanning from schoolchildren to the public and from undergraduate to postgraduate medical students. This is a “Call to Action” to close the global education gap.