Organ donation in focus: Northern Germany informs and helps!

Organ donation in focus: Northern Germany informs and helps!

From May 19th to 24th, 2025, the transplant officers from the Hannover Medical School (MHH) will tour northern Germany to raise awareness about organ donation. The aim of the “Camper Week for Organ Donation 2025” is to inform the population about the importance and decision-making processes regarding organ donation. This takes the form of open-ended discussions and answering questions to address the general lack of knowledge in this area. Dr. Frank Logemann, MHH transplant officer, emphasizes how important it is to document a decision in the organ donation register. The route leads from the North Sea coast through Lower Saxony to Berlin and back.

On May 24, 2025, there will be information camper vans at three locations in Hanover: the New Town Hall, the Sprengel Museum and the MHH. The campaign is supported by the Network of Transplantation Officers Region Nord e.V., which is providing three vehicles. Transplant representatives from many northern German clinics are also doing their part to promote awareness.

Challenges of organ donation

Despite a fundamentally positive attitude towards organ donation - over 80 percent of Germans are open to it, according to the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) - the documentation of the personal decision is often inadequate. A recent survey shows that 62 percent of respondents have made a decision to donate organs and tissues. However, only 44 percent documented their decision in an organ donation card or living will, while 18 percent made a decision but it was not recorded in writing. Fortunately, 82 percent of those surveyed have a positive attitude towards the topic of organ donation.

In January 2020, the German Bundestag voted on a new law on organ donation. This includes, among other things, the creation of a register to document decisions regarding organ donation. But only around 50 percent of those surveyed are informed about this new law. Raising awareness about organ donation and the associated legal regulations remains an urgent challenge.

Urgency and necessity of organ donation

The situation in Germany is worrying. According to Eurotransplant, around 8,300 patients were waiting for a donor organ at the beginning of 2025. These people often struggle with life-threatening illnesses or suffer from severe loss of important organ function. In 2024, 679 people died while waiting for an organ, underscoring the urgency of raising awareness about organ donation.

The kidney, heart, liver, lung, pancreas and small intestine are currently transplantable. But the lack of organ donations means many patients cannot get the help they need. With around eleven organ donors per million inhabitants, Germany has one of the lowest places in an international comparison.

A single organ donor can help up to seven people. The need to educate people about organ donation and encourage people to document their personal decisions is enormous, especially in view of the upcoming nationwide “Organ Donation Day” on June 7, 2025. For detailed information and the full program of the “Camper Week for Organ Donation”, those interested can visit the website of the Network of Transplantation Officers Region North e.V.