The Australian Government is launching its 10th DonateLife Week today by calling on the country to take just one minute to join The Great Registration Race for DonateLife Week and register as organ and tissue donors.
\nLaunching DonateLife Week today, the Minister responsible for the Australian Government\u2019s national program to increase organ and tissue donation, Dr David Gillespie, said there are around 13 million Australians aged 16+ who are eligible to register as organ and tissue donors \u2013 but haven\u2019t. People aged 25 and under, those born overseas, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are least likely to be registered.
\n\u201cHaving spent the majority of my career as a doctor, organ donation is a topic close to many clinicians\u2019 hearts, including mine,\u201d Minister Gillespie said.
\n\u201cWe know most Australians actually support organ and tissue donation, in fact, a recent poll of 60,000 Australians showed 4 out of 5 say they\u2019d be willing to donate their organs when they die.
\n\u201cSo the problem isn\u2019t that Australians are against organ and tissue donation \u2013 it\u2019s that they\u2019re not sure if they\u2019re eligible to register, don\u2019t know how to or simply haven\u2019t got around to it.\u201d
\nLast year saw a 12 per cent reduction in the number of people receiving a transplant, a 16 per cent decrease in organ donors and a 16 per cent drop in registrations due to the impact of COVID-19.
\n\u201cWith around 1,800 Australians on the organ transplant waitlist, including almost 40 kids and teens aged 18 and under, the demand for donors has never been greater,\u201d Minister Gillespie said.
\n\u201cI encourage every Australian to take a minute of their time and get online this DonateLife Week and register, and just as important – tell their family they want to be a donor.
\n\u201cAny Australian aged 16 and over can sign up online. It doesn’t matter how old you are, your medical history, your lifestyle, what country you\u2019re from or how healthy you are \u2013 you can still register as an organ and tissue donor.
\n“Don\u2019t rule yourself out even if you think you\u2019ve lived an unhealthy life or have suffered illness; let doctors make that decision if the time comes.
\n\u201cEven if you are unable to donate your organs, you could still transform the lives of others by donating tissue, such as bone, skin or corneas which could help someone suffering burns, significant sporting injuries or facing blindness.\u201d
\nThe Great Registration Race for DonateLife Week runs through July and August with a big push from today for DonateLife Week, encouraging up to 100,000 more Australians to get their phone and Medicare card out to register and get involved.
\n\u201cImagine the hope this can bring to these 1,800 Australians waiting for a life-saving transplant if they see 100,000 people register as donors? This really could save and transform lives.\u201d
\nDonateLife Week is the Australian Government\u2019s key public awareness initiative to encourage people to register as organ and tissue donors and to tell their family they want to be a donor.
\nRegistering is easy and only takes one minute at donatelife.gov.au\/register<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Australian Government is launching its 10th DonateLife Week today by calling on the country to take just one minute to join The Great Registration Race for DonateLife Week and register as organ and tissue donors. Launching DonateLife Week today, the Minister responsible for the Australian Government\u2019s national program to increase organ and tissue donation, … Continue reading “It\u2019s time for 100,000 Australians to join, The Great Registration Race for DonateLife Week”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}