Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on organ donation and transplantation.

Organ donation and transplantation saves lives, thousands of lives.

And while some countries have seen encouraging increases in donation rates, in others, transplantation rates have been stagnating or even decreasing. Responsibility for health policies lies primarily within member states,

but how can the EU bolster cooperation to save even more lives?

Stay with us.

We've come a long way since the first successful kidney transplant in the United States in the 1950s.

Nowadays, organ transplantation is an established worldwide practice and one of the 20th century's top medical advances.

Demand for organ transplantation is increasing, but a shortage of donors means there's a lack of available organs to meet the need,

which results in long waiting lists for patients.

Indeed, in 2018, more than 150,000 EU citizens were on organ waiting lists,

7% more than in 2014.

And an average of 16 patients die every day while waiting for the organs they need, mainly kidneys,

liver, hearts and lungs. So why aren't there more donors?

Well that's a difficult question to answer. There are several explanations. First, we need

to understand that there are different types of donations. So nowadays in Europe, the main

source of transplantable organs

is donations from deceased donors, especially following brain death. Deceased donation is a source

for kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas and small bowel transplants, while living donation

is mainly performed for kidney transplants and some liver transplants.

Another important factor is that organ donation rates for both deceased and living donation

vary widely across the EU.

In 2018 for example, the number of actual deceased donors ranged from 48 per million people

...