title: Living kidney donation: the importance of public education.
abstract: A sample of Malaysians in the Klang Valley indicating their decision on becoming unrelated living kidney donors was surveyed regarding huge amounts of financial incentives to be rewarded to them. From the 1310 respondents, 72.1% said "no" on becoming a living donor. The reason "I don't think humans can live with only one kidney" scored the highest (35.6%), and from the 27.9% of the respondents who are willing to donate their organ with the right financial incentive, most of the respondents picked the reasons "I want to do something noble in life" (50%), and monetary reason scored the lowest (6.2%), indicating that financial incentive is not a major reason guiding individuals' decision on becoming living donors. We suggest that the government should put priority at targeting public education to raise the understanding on the risk, safety and the quality of life of donation and transplantation, and improving the public trust on the donation and the surgical methods to carry out transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Administrative Studies and Politics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Makmor
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tumin
authors.forename: Rajah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rasiah
authors.forename: Abdillah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.forename: NurulHuda Mohd
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Satar
authors.forename: Chin-Sieng
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.forename: Soo-Kun
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Kok-Peng
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Ng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D054626:Consumer Health Information; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Malaysia; financial incentives; living kidney donors; organ donation; public education