Dagenham, England, September 24, 2013 -- Despite countless media campaigns, organ donation rates in the United States and UK have remained relatively static while need has risen dramatically. New efforts to increase organ donation through public education are necessary to address the waiting list of over 100,000 patients.

In 2003, DHHS launched the "Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative" to increase donation in the nation's largest hospitals by implementing widespread use of best practices, and in 2005 transplant centers joined the Collaborative with the goal of also increasing the number of organs recovered per donor. The US Department of Transplantation has offered a series of grant programs to identify and replicate successful initiatives aimed at improving donation rates, and recent programs have targeted subgroups that have been particularly difficult to reach, such as minorities and the young. Unfortunately, despite all such efforts, organ donation has increased only slightly in recent years while demand has grown dramatically, leading to long waiting times and high waitlist mortality rates. While some have considered a national switch to an "opt-out" system as a potential solution, recent evidence suggests that such a switch would be unlikely to improve donation rates. Here we describe a novel approach in which a public health awareness campaign designed to increase organ donation was centered around the use of a social media application, VideoDonor.

Launched in July 2013, Videodonor is the first online video sharing site in the world that is specifically aimed towards increasing Organ Donations with approximately 857 active users worldwide. EDean Jonesach Videodonor member controls a channel that allows them to describe to upload a variety of inspirational, spotlight, educational, comedy and music videos.

VideoDonor has just launch its iOS app which allows organ donors to upload and share their stories through video using an iphone or ipad.

The launch of the app is a significant breakthrough for the non-for profit initiative as it is hoped this will help reach those most in need.

Johns Hopkins University researchers posted results in the American Journal of Transplantation that show the huge potential for social media as a public health tool.

"It's the power of social networking as a source for public good," said study leader Dr. Andrew Cameron, a transplant surgeon and Johns Hopkins University associate professor of surgery.

Contact:
Dean Jones
VideoDonor
Burdetts Road,
Dagenham, Essex, RM9
0-798-425-1660
[email protected]
http://www.videodonor.com