World Organ Donation Day 2023: History, Significance, Quotes, Celebration

‘Find a need and Fill it.’ Organ donation is an act of saving someone’s life by offering your valuable organ to another person to upgrade his state and health condition. The World Organ Donation Day is annually observed to create awareness in the minds of people and to make them realize the importance of Organ Donation. The one who donates an organ is called ‘Donor’ it can be while he/she is in live or deceased state, and the one who gets transplanted is called ‘Recipient’. The organ donation may be for research, or to be transplanted to another person whose organ is malfunctioning. However, organ donation is a legal procedure where the World Organ Donation is governed by a Transplant Regulatory Body with specific rules stated by authorities. Every institution which conducts Organ Transplant should get registered with the government. The World Organ Day annually falls on August 13. In this article let us check the World Organ Donation Day 2023: History, Importance, Quotes and Celebration.

As per the report, National Health Portal, around 500,000 of the world population dies due to the unavailability of organs. Annually in India, about 5000 Kidneys, 50 Hearts, 1000 Livers are transplanted. The current Indian (0.86 per million) Organ Donation Rate is very low compared to Spain (46.9 million) and America (31.96 million). To meet the current demand of Organ, India should reach 1 per million donation rate.

History of World Organ Donation Day 2023 – August 13

Let us read to know the history of World Organ Donation day

• On August 13, The World Organ Donation Day is observed and celebrated all over the globe with an intention to bring awareness about the value of organ donation and to motivate the world for organ donation.
• Ronald Lee Herrick was the first triumphant living organ donor. In 1954 he donated a kidney to identical twin brother. Joseph Murray the lead surgeon who won the Nobel Prize for his advances in organ transplantation in 1990.
• Spain has the highest world’s donor rate (46.91 per million people) secondly comes U.S (36.88 per million) followed by Croatia (34.63 per million), Portugal (33.8 per million), France (33.25 per million) as per 2019 report.
• Anencephaly, a baby was known to be the youngest organ donor, who lived for 100 minutes and made history in donating kidneys to an adult with renal failure (in 2015), the oldest known cornea donor was a Scottish women of 107 years old, a 95 years old West Virginia man was known to be the first internal organ donor, a Britain women of 85 years old was known to be the oldest altruistic living organ donor (in 2014).
• In India, organ donation is directed by the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994. The law permits donation of both deceased and living donors. The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization/NOTTO functions as a peak body in the distribution of organs over the country.

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World Organ Donation Day 2023 Theme

The theme for World Organ Donation Day 2023 is “Step up to volunteer; need more organ donors to fill the lacunae”

Purpose of World Organ Donation Day 2023

 The main objective of World Organ Donation Day is to inspire people to donate organs to save someone’s life.

• To aware people about the importance of organ donation.
• To spread information about organ donation all over the world.
• To eliminate the hesitation and folk tale among the world about organ donation.
• To express gratitude to all those organ donors.
• To motivate people and the community in organ donation.

Types of Organ Donation/Transplant

 Below mentioned are few types of organ donation

• Live Related Donation: this type of donation is performed when a living person donates an organ to the needy for transplantation. The living donor can be either a family member like brother/sister, grandparents etc.
• Live Unrelated Donation: this mode of donation is performed among someone who has an emotive relation with the recipient, such as friends, in-laws or a neighbor.
• Deceased Organ Donation: to perform this donation the recipient has to register in an institute that processes They will be added to the waiting list. Transplant is performed when a suitable organ is available.

Interesting Facts on Organ Donation

Let us check some facts on organ donation.

• Each year American receive about 36,000 life saving transplants.
• Did you know? Every 10 minutes, a new person is put on the National Transplant waiting list.
• About 90% of the world population supports organ donation.
• In the National Transplant waiting list there are about 5,000 men, women and children of our region looking for life saving transplants.
• Did you know? Among the waiting list 83% are for a kidney transplant.
• Did you know? One donor can save up to eight lives and just one tissue donor can aid as many as seventy five others.
• Did you know? About 20 people a day die in the U.S due to unavailability of organs.
• From living donors more than 6000 transplants are processed each year and a very few number of organs come from healthy people.
• Did you know? A living donor with fatal conditions like HIV, cancer, diabetes, kidney defects prevent you from organ donation.
• Did you know? There is no fetch to the donor or to their family.
• Regardless of age, gender and medical history, anyone can become an organ donor.
• Currently, in America about 114,000 are waiting for a Transplant. As organ transplant is only the option left.
• In the United States, approximately 98 organ transplants are performed a day, that’s more than 36,000 people get a new life.

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How to Observe World Organ Donation Day 2023

Here are a few ways for those registered/not, to create awareness about organ donation.

• As social media is a widely used platform, the best way is to update the importance of World Organ Donation Day on social media.
• Are you still waiting to register? Then this is an excellent day to register to become a donor.
• Besides signing up, it’s as much as important to encourage and motivate others in organ donation.
• Conduct a speech among the city for the purpose of spreading awareness.
• Contribute something to help the patient around you who is in need of an organ transplant.
• Perform a survey in your locality, take out the list of donors and recipients, serve them in all the way you can.

World Organ Donation Day Quotes 2023

Below mentioned are few quotes on Organ Donation.

• “It takes lives to save lives.” – Oscar Auliq-Ice
• “Making a donation is the ultimate sign of solidarity. Actions speak louder than words.”-  Ibrahim Hooper
• “The value of life is not in its duration, but in its donation. You are not important because of how long you live, you are important because of how effective you live.”-  Myles Munroe
• “Ever since I got to know how easily skin donation can save the lives of serious burns patients, I have felt strongly about the issue.” – Paresh Rawal

Let’s Conserve! Being a donor is the best way to express emotions, kindness and charity towards the people. The World Organ Donation Day 2021 is an excellent opportunity for all of us to save someone’s life. Step out and start working on it!