Organ Donation NZ Calls For Life-Saving Conversations During Kidney Awareness Month

This March, Organ Donation New Zealand (ODNZ) is encouraging Kiwis to have important conversations – about kidney health, and about organ donation.

New Zealand’s Kidney Awareness Month, punctuated by World Kidney Day on Thursday 12 March, is a timely reminder of the impact of kidney disease on individuals, their loved ones and communities across Aotearoa.

“March shines a spotlight on kidney health and kidney disease, and by extension, highlights the critical need for more kidney donations,” says Sue Garland, Donor Coordinator Team Leader at ODNZ.

“Hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders are living with a kidney condition, with many unaware they are in the early stages of kidney disease. For those living with the end-stage renal failure, survival depends on regular dialysis or an organ transplant.”

In fact, kidneys account for the majority of organs needed for transplant in Aotearoa, making up an estimated 75% of the overall organ transplant waiting list, which hovers around 500 people at any one time.

Over the past five years, more than 900 kidneys have been generously donated, around two-thirds from deceased donors. Still, the average wait time for a kidney transplant is four years.

Organ donation conversations matter

“This gap between need and availability is why deceased organ donation conversations matter so much,” says Sue.

ODNZ is responsible for coordinating deceased organ donation – one of the ways to donate a kidney in New Zealand, alongside living directed and non-directed donation.

“While living donation plays a hugely important role, deceased donation is critical to meeting Aotearoa’s kidney transplant needs.

“One deceased donor has the potential to save multiple lives, and kidneys are extra special in that we have two, so there’s a double impact in that ability to help two people following death.”

ODNZ is encouraging New Zealanders to use Kidney Awareness Month as a prompt to both look after their own kidney health and to consider how they might help others in future.

“Talking about organ donation with your whānau is one of the most important conversations you can have.”

In New Zealand, families are asked to make the final decision about donation following death: “When they know your wishes, it can make that decision clearer and more meaningful at a time of immense grief.”

“This March, we’re simply asking New Zealanders to take a moment. Learn about kidney health. Think about donation. And talk about your wishes with your loved ones.

“A conversation today could help save lives tomorrow.”

For more on deceased organ donation and organ donation conversations, visit www.donor.co.nz.

For more about Kidney Awareness Month and community testing events, visit www.loveyourkidneys.co.nz.

Other helpful links:

Kidney Health NZ provides education, advocacy and support for people with any degree of kidney disease, including comprehensive information on managing kidney health.

The Kidney Society provides wrap-around support services for those with kidney conditions and their whānau.

Live Kidney Donation Aotearoa (LKDA) is the official national programme focused on increasing and facilitating living kidney donations, including directed and non-directed (or altruistic) donations.

World Kidney Day resources and a kidney health quiz can also be found at www.worldkidneyday.org

About Organ Donation New Zealand 

ODNZ provides a 24-hour, 7-days a week, clinical service for deceased organ and tissue donation to health professionals in hospitals throughout New Zealand.

ODNZ works with those health professionals to ensure that processes for deceased donation are nationally consistent and meet the highest medical, ethical and legal standards.

ODNZ coordinates the process of donation which provides organs and tissues to transplant units in New Zealand and Australia and tissue banks in New Zealand.

It also provides ongoing support for donor families, education and training for healthcare professionals and accurate factual information to the public.

In 2019, ODNZ was integrated into New Zealand Blood Service’s national organisation.

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