European Day for Organ Donation and Transplantation 2017
The Council of Europe invites Europeans to engage in discussions on organ donation
Strasbourg, 05.09.2017 – European Day for Organ Donation and Transplantation will be officially celebrated in Bern (Switzerland) on 9 September. This year, the slogan for this special day established by the Council of Europe in 1998 will be “Bring back hope to patients on waiting lists”.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, has encouraged governments to do more to make European citizens aware of the importance of organ donations to reduce the number of deaths of patients waiting for transplants.
“Over the past few decades, transplantation medicine and transplantations have progressed in a way that was previously unimaginable, thereby prolonging and improving the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of patients. Although the number of donations is constantly rising, the number or registrations on waiting lists is growing even faster. Data shows that the shortage of organs continues to be the main obstacle,” he said.
Data on organ shortages
- Some 18 patients die every day in Europe waiting for a transplant.
- Over 143 000 patients were registered on a waiting list in 2015 (+5% compared to 2014). Five new patients are added to waiting lists every hour.
- In 2015 alone, 6 702 patients died while waiting for a transplant, which is an increase of 7 %.
In co-operation with the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), the Swiss National Foundation for Organ Donation and Transplantation (Swisstransplant) will provide the public with information on organ donation and transplantation by means of a wide range of activities (see the programme).
The Council of Europe European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM) is supporting the Day with a campaign on Thunderclap, the social networks and short videos of personal stories of organ receivers designed to make people aware of the importance of organ donation and transplants which save lives.
For more information on European Organ Donation and Transplantation Day and on the work being done by the Council of Europe
Contacts :
Estelle Steiner, Directorate of Communications, Tel. +33 3 88 41 33 35
Ian Palombi, EDQM, Tel. +33 3 90 21 62 72, mobile +33 6 18 59 02 89 (on Saturday 9 September)