Organ Donor Awareness Week hopes to reverse drop in donations

The awareness campaign, which kicks off today, follows a year in which organ donations dropped by 17 per cent.

TODAY MARKS THE first day of Organ Donor Awareness Week.

The 2013 awareness campaign, which runs until next Saturday, comes as organ donations for 2012 were down 17 per cent on the year before.

Hoping to address the ‘unpredictability’ from year to year, the chief executive of the Irish Kidney Association, Mark Murphy, said that the organs taken from 78 deceased donors last year allowed for 206 transplant operations to take place.

In addition to raising awareness, the Irish Kidney Association is hoping to raise much-needed funds with their ‘forget me not flower’ emblems.

Those wishing to obtain an organ donor card can do so by phoning the Irish Kidney Association on 1890 543639 or by freetexting the word DONOR to 50050.

In addition to this, it is now possible to store an organ donor card on your smartphone. The ‘Organ Donor ECard’ is available on iPhone and Android.

Read: Irish Kidney Association calls for increased infrastructure for organ donation >

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More