The system of transplantation and donation in Ukraine - it is important to start talking
We continue to cover and reveal the topic of the transplant system in Ukraine and are currently working on how to form an adequate public opinion about transplantation and donation in general, and how to convey to people that this is a dying person’s chance for a second, full life.
It has already happened that in Ukrainian society the topic of transplantology is under a strange taboo and for the average citizen it either does not say anything at all, or speaks poorly, negatively, in terms of mythical and illusory "black transplantology". And this despite the fact that there is no accusation a sentence that would confirm this, or at least fairly and objectively state the existing case. And it is not clear who is responsible for such a disappointing current state of transplantation - citizens who want and are so comfortable to be victims of information marketing under the motto "my house is on the edge - I know nothing and heard the bell - I do not know where it is »; to incompetent media, which, by occasional "sensation", are able to turn a blind eye to truthfulness, fact and objectivity; or the government’s policy, which for some reason is convenient to spend almost 700 million . hryvnia per year for the treatment of its citizens abroad, rather than developing a promising industry here in Ukraine.
Today, Ukrainian society more than ever needs a broad discussion on the topic of transplantation and donation, because it is unfortunate to say, but the level of awareness of people about this extremely important topic is extremely meager. Let’s admit, are there many of us who have voluntarily taken an interest in the topic of transplantation / donation in any aspect: religious, moral, ethical, cultural-mental, or scientific-medical? Who brought this issue up for discussion in the environment of relatives, friends, colleagues? Who was interested in how to sign your own donation agreement?
But before you start talking, you should first articulate your thoughts clearly. And the first of which, most likely, should be thoughts:
"A person on Earth cannot be so sure of anything as of his own death. One of the days of our lives will be the day of our death. After my death, I can help others. " Or these: “A person who has refused to be a donor finds himself in a situation where he himself needs a donor. That is, a person who refused to "give" gets into a situation in which, if he "does not" take someone’s organ, he will die. Of course, no one will refuse to help such a person, but it should be emphasized that the risk of needing an organ transplant is much higher than the possibility of becoming a donor. Posthumous donation can be a manifestation of love that will extend beyond death.
To motivate people to think constructively about the topic of transplantation anddonation requires good communication with society. A good communicative tool of influence is social advertising. And the most successful today are probably Spanish and Brazilian. The first is surprisingly progressive and effective, as almost 90% of citizens agree to take away the organs of deceased relatives. And all because on the doors of many churches in Spain hang signs with the inscription: "Do not take your organs to heaven. You won’t need them there. Leave them here, they are needed on earth. "
"Thousands owe their lives to organ donors" (Spain / France)
The second, Brazilian, went even further in her creativity. Brazilian advertising developers have decided that the necessary social message is better combined with existing emotions and behavior of society and its individual groups. Yes, the football team of the Brazilian city of Boi supported the action to collect blood donation and asked its fans to do the same. In its red and black uniform, the club removed the red stripe and posted a message instead: “We need blood. Give us back the red color. " And later, as the fans donated blood, the red stripes returned to the shape of their favorite club.
Or another example of the same Brazil: 10 years ago, they reduced the queue for heart and lung transplants to zero precisely because they launched a public campaign to become a donor for fans of one of the football clubs, explaining it this way - if you break up somewhere on a motorcycle, if you die somewhere in a fight with football fans, your heart will beat for your team in another person, even if your heart is transplanted to a rival fan, your heart will still beat for your football club.
"Leave a legacy, become an organ donor. Tell your family that you want to donate your organs. It’s simple. "Pereira & O’Dell (Brazil)
In Ukraine, social advertising on transplantation and donationUnfortunately, it is still not there, although the topic of transplantation / donation in the official legal arena appeared in our country in 1999. Fortunately, there is the All-Ukrainian iDonor Donation Platform in Ukraine , founded and chaired by Iryna Zaslavets , a correspondent for STB’s Windows News, and a man who overcame cancer after undergoing a bone marrow transplant in Germany.
Thanks to the resolute initiative of this young girl, the topic of transplantation is being popularized: the culture of donation is developing, myths are being dispelled, Ukrainians’ fears about organ donation are being dispelled, transplantation is being promoted at the legislative and executive levels.
At the initiative of Iryna Zaslavets, an action was organized in September to conquer the highest point of Ukraine - Hoverla - by people with transplanted organs (there were 25 of them). This fact was recorded as a new record of Ukraine, and the activist herself commented on it as follows: "First of all, we wanted to show that people with transplanted organs are full members of society. After all, transplantation opens a second breath. A person who has been tied to a dialysis machine for years may be free to travel. Those who previously needed a heart could not walk even a few steps, because they felt tired, had difficulty breathing, and their legs seemed like logs. And now these people can overcome the mountains, and Hoverla is not an obstacle for them. " 
Also, in order to form an adequate attitude of society to the topic of transplantation and donation, Iryna Zaslavets never tires of repeating:"In fact, there are many myths. One of them sounds like this: if you have money, you can "order" anyone. But this is absurd. For the operation, the donor organ must be suitable for many parameters and criteria: blood type, size, a number of other indicators. It must be delivered in time. For example, the heart outside the body can "live" only four hours, only four hours to remove the heart from one breast, and that it began to beat in other breasts. Plus more time for transportation. In India, for example, for the timely transportation of the heart involved a scheme involving up to five hundred people. It is impossible to do an organ transplant secretly, in the basement. The transplant itself is a complex operation. After that, the patient needs special rehabilitation, then lifelong medical supervision and expensive immunosuppression in order for the organ to take root. "
Also, perhaps the most important lever of influence on the formation of society’s attitude to the culture of donation are eloquent and incredibly viable stories of those who have already undergone organ transplantation and their own example shows that transplantation is a chance for a full life. One of them is Maksym Grekov, a 35-year-old Ukrainian boy with a Belarusian heart. At the age of 32, he contracted appendicitis, and during surgery, doctors suddenly diagnosed dilated cardiomyopathy .- only a new heart could save. Maxim was lucky: thanks to the help of his friend, he was able to pay for an expensive ($ 100,000) donor heart operation in Belarus. Now the guy is actively involved in sports - basketball, surfing, diving, cycling. By the way, he was one of those who conquered Hoverla this year together with iDonor . Maksym ’s plans include a trip around the world, during which he plans to meet people who, like him, have undergone a transplant. Now he lives for two, which means that there will be twice as many records and achievements!
So, we hope that in the near future Ukrainian society will successfully master the culture of donation and join the world in which donation is as natural as brushing your teeth and crossing the street at the green light.
Author Kateryna Stebelska
Read also: Vaccination is not only for children
It has already happened that in Ukrainian society the topic of transplantology is under a strange taboo and for the average citizen it either does not say anything at all, or speaks poorly, negatively, in terms of mythical and illusory "black transplantology". And this despite the fact that there is no accusation a sentence that would confirm this, or at least fairly and objectively state the existing case. And it is not clear who is responsible for such a disappointing current state of transplantation - citizens who want and are so comfortable to be victims of information marketing under the motto "my house is on the edge - I know nothing and heard the bell - I do not know where it is »; to incompetent media, which, by occasional "sensation", are able to turn a blind eye to truthfulness, fact and objectivity; or the government’s policy, which for some reason is convenient to spend almost 700 million . hryvnia per year for the treatment of its citizens abroad, rather than developing a promising industry here in Ukraine.
Today, Ukrainian society more than ever needs a broad discussion on the topic of transplantation and donation, because it is unfortunate to say, but the level of awareness of people about this extremely important topic is extremely meager. Let’s admit, are there many of us who have voluntarily taken an interest in the topic of transplantation / donation in any aspect: religious, moral, ethical, cultural-mental, or scientific-medical? Who brought this issue up for discussion in the environment of relatives, friends, colleagues? Who was interested in how to sign your own donation agreement?
But before you start talking, you should first articulate your thoughts clearly. And the first of which, most likely, should be thoughts:
"A person on Earth cannot be so sure of anything as of his own death. One of the days of our lives will be the day of our death. After my death, I can help others. " Or these: “A person who has refused to be a donor finds himself in a situation where he himself needs a donor. That is, a person who refused to "give" gets into a situation in which, if he "does not" take someone’s organ, he will die. Of course, no one will refuse to help such a person, but it should be emphasized that the risk of needing an organ transplant is much higher than the possibility of becoming a donor. Posthumous donation can be a manifestation of love that will extend beyond death.
To motivate people to think constructively about the topic of transplantation anddonation requires good communication with society. A good communicative tool of influence is social advertising. And the most successful today are probably Spanish and Brazilian. The first is surprisingly progressive and effective, as almost 90% of citizens agree to take away the organs of deceased relatives. And all because on the doors of many churches in Spain hang signs with the inscription: "Do not take your organs to heaven. You won’t need them there. Leave them here, they are needed on earth. "
"Thousands owe their lives to organ donors" (Spain / France)The second, Brazilian, went even further in her creativity. Brazilian advertising developers have decided that the necessary social message is better combined with existing emotions and behavior of society and its individual groups. Yes, the football team of the Brazilian city of Boi supported the action to collect blood donation and asked its fans to do the same. In its red and black uniform, the club removed the red stripe and posted a message instead: “We need blood. Give us back the red color. " And later, as the fans donated blood, the red stripes returned to the shape of their favorite club.
Or another example of the same Brazil: 10 years ago, they reduced the queue for heart and lung transplants to zero precisely because they launched a public campaign to become a donor for fans of one of the football clubs, explaining it this way - if you break up somewhere on a motorcycle, if you die somewhere in a fight with football fans, your heart will beat for your team in another person, even if your heart is transplanted to a rival fan, your heart will still beat for your football club.
"Leave a legacy, become an organ donor. Tell your family that you want to donate your organs. It’s simple. "Pereira & O’Dell (Brazil) In Ukraine, social advertising on transplantation and donationUnfortunately, it is still not there, although the topic of transplantation / donation in the official legal arena appeared in our country in 1999. Fortunately, there is the All-Ukrainian iDonor Donation Platform in Ukraine , founded and chaired by Iryna Zaslavets , a correspondent for STB’s Windows News, and a man who overcame cancer after undergoing a bone marrow transplant in Germany.
Thanks to the resolute initiative of this young girl, the topic of transplantation is being popularized: the culture of donation is developing, myths are being dispelled, Ukrainians’ fears about organ donation are being dispelled, transplantation is being promoted at the legislative and executive levels.
At the initiative of Iryna Zaslavets, an action was organized in September to conquer the highest point of Ukraine - Hoverla - by people with transplanted organs (there were 25 of them). This fact was recorded as a new record of Ukraine, and the activist herself commented on it as follows: "First of all, we wanted to show that people with transplanted organs are full members of society. After all, transplantation opens a second breath. A person who has been tied to a dialysis machine for years may be free to travel. Those who previously needed a heart could not walk even a few steps, because they felt tired, had difficulty breathing, and their legs seemed like logs. And now these people can overcome the mountains, and Hoverla is not an obstacle for them. " Also, in order to form an adequate attitude of society to the topic of transplantation and donation, Iryna Zaslavets never tires of repeating:"In fact, there are many myths. One of them sounds like this: if you have money, you can "order" anyone. But this is absurd. For the operation, the donor organ must be suitable for many parameters and criteria: blood type, size, a number of other indicators. It must be delivered in time. For example, the heart outside the body can "live" only four hours, only four hours to remove the heart from one breast, and that it began to beat in other breasts. Plus more time for transportation. In India, for example, for the timely transportation of the heart involved a scheme involving up to five hundred people. It is impossible to do an organ transplant secretly, in the basement. The transplant itself is a complex operation. After that, the patient needs special rehabilitation, then lifelong medical supervision and expensive immunosuppression in order for the organ to take root. "Also, perhaps the most important lever of influence on the formation of society’s attitude to the culture of donation are eloquent and incredibly viable stories of those who have already undergone organ transplantation and their own example shows that transplantation is a chance for a full life. One of them is Maksym Grekov, a 35-year-old Ukrainian boy with a Belarusian heart. At the age of 32, he contracted appendicitis, and during surgery, doctors suddenly diagnosed dilated cardiomyopathy .- only a new heart could save. Maxim was lucky: thanks to the help of his friend, he was able to pay for an expensive ($ 100,000) donor heart operation in Belarus. Now the guy is actively involved in sports - basketball, surfing, diving, cycling. By the way, he was one of those who conquered Hoverla this year together with iDonor . Maksym ’s plans include a trip around the world, during which he plans to meet people who, like him, have undergone a transplant. Now he lives for two, which means that there will be twice as many records and achievements!
So, we hope that in the near future Ukrainian society will successfully master the culture of donation and join the world in which donation is as natural as brushing your teeth and crossing the street at the green light.
Author Kateryna Stebelska
Read also: Vaccination is not only for children