Eye donation: awareness in urban population of Pakistan: an analysis

Objectives: To evaluate the awareness and willingness of an eye donation among urban population of Pakistan

Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among urban population of Pakistan to access the awareness and concern about eye donation. For this a convenient sampling technique was used and a self-administrative questionnaire was administered. Participants were selected from 3 provinces and 5 major cities of Pakistan. A total of 1520 responded, 52.6% were males and 47.4% were females

Results: 530[66.2%] out of 800 male and 463[64.3%] out of 720 female participants were aware about eye donation. Willingness to donate eyes after death was only seen in about 54/800 [6.7%] males and 58/720 [8%] females. Mass media, television, radio were the most common source of information for both male 342/800 [42.7%] and female 316/720 [43.8%] regarding eye donation. At the end nobility was treated the most common influencing factor for both male 102/800 [12.7%] and female 145/720 [20%] participants

Conclusion: Awareness of eye donation among urban population was not found to be adequate and the willingness for eye donation is too much low. This may be because of lack of high literacy rate in Pakistan, no government eye banks, very few NGO's eye bank and lack of eye donation awareness campaigns

Kidney donation, preference and determinants in Pakistan

Objective: Pakistan has a dual burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. The major indication of renal transplantation is end stage renal disease due Diabetes and hypertension, which is also a cost effective treatment significantly decreasing mortality and morbidity in these patients

Material and Methods: this cross-sectional study was carried out in Pakistan to determine the level of awareness among the general population regarding kidney donation and their willingness to donate. The total number of participants who completed a questionnaire was three thousand five-hundred and twenty. 56% were male while 44% female. The sample included people of all ages from all educational and ethnic backgrounds

Results: among participants 63.5% were found to be aware regarding kidney donation and 46.6% showed a willingness to donate to a first degree relative [FDR]. Only 11.5% were willing to donate to someone other than a FDR. Females were found to be more willing to donate to both a FDR and a non-FDR with a male to female ratio of 0.7 [95% C.I]. A small percentage [16.7%] albeit important believed organ donation should be declared illegal

Conclusion: awareness regarding kidney donation and educational status were found to be linked, with people educated at a higher level having greater knowledge about the topic. All stakeholders need to develop a comprehensive strategy to decrease the overall health burden of end stage renal disease and promote legal renal transplantation