Give a Kidney – promoting altruistic donation in the UK

Give a Kidney – One’s Enough is a charity that aims to raise awareness of altruistic living kidney donation. Altruistic donation is the giving of a kidney, from a living person, to a stranger who has kidney failure. The charity also aims to publicise why more living kidney donors are needed and to support people who are considering this type of donation.

Patients with kidney failure have the option of dialysis or transplantation when both their kidneys fail. A kidney transplant can provide patients with freedom from regular dialysis, a better quality of life and longer life expectancy. Unfortunately, very few patients have someone who can give them a kidney, and on average most patients have to wait on dialysis for two to three years before a kidney becomes available on the national deceased donor transplant waiting list.

Although the UK performs more than 2500 kidney transplantations a year, there are over 7000 people waiting for a kidney transplant, of whom 300 die each year. Initiatives like this to promote living donation – both altruistic and directed, aim to improve the quality of organ donation and reduce this wait.