Organ donation campaign “Think, decide, inform!” – Estonia (EstMSA)

Name of the activity: Organ donation campaign “Think, decide, inform!”

Country/NMO: Estonia (EstMSA)

Program: Organ, Marrow & Tissue Donation

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Education

Focus area:

Organ donation, Tissue donation, excluding blood donation

Problem statement:

Transplantation medicine is something not widely discussed in Estonia. As knowledge of the subject is low, it creates a lot of problems for the grieving families and doctors assosiated with transplantology.

Target groups and beneficiaries:

We hoped to reach as many people as possible of the general public of Estonia. Beneficiaries are both future recipients who will receive donated organs more easily and doctors who deal with asking for permission for donation.

Objectives and indicators of success:

– The general public has more knowledge about organ donation and the need to discuss their opinions with relatives – the number of new registrated donors is higher, the prevelance of the campaingn posts and published articles is at least 20 000
– Medical students are educated on the subject of organ donation ethics and approaching the relatives of potential organ donors – number of students attending the lecture is at least 100, recienving positive feedback on the need to discuss this subject

Methodology:

The base of the campaign was a series of four thematic pictures/posters that were released every week in April. Our local clinic newspaper and national news papers health section published our article about organ donation and consent. We also gave an interview on the subject and our campaign in a health themed news paper and on national radio. We held a lecture on organ donation statistics and ethical problems for medical faculty students.

Plans for evaluation:

– The number of new registrated donors – we do not have an opt-in system but we can stress our wish with digitally signing a form in our e-health system (in the end this was not possible to use as an indicator as we could only get information on how many signed after the campaign but not wether it is is yes or a no answer)
– The prevalence of the campaign posts on Facebook and the prevalence of articles published in newspapers
– Number of students attending the lecture on donaton