Objective: To assess the level of awareness and ethical issues related to organ donation especially kidney donation and the willingness to donate a kidney among the rural population of Pakistan.
Method: A cross sectional study was conducted in a sample of 324 subjects residing in Nurpur Shahan by means of a pre tested questionnaire. Data collection was carried out via a face to face interview and the data was analyzed using SPSS 10.0 and associations were tested using the Chi-square test.
Results: Knowledge about organ donation was significantly associated with age (p = 0.00) and education (p = 0.024). Allowance of organ donation in religion was an important factor in determining the attitude of individuals towards organ donation and their willingness to donate. Media emerged as a major source of information for the population of Nurpur Shahan; kidney was the organ most known for its donation. Most (69%) respondents did not consider organ vending to be ethically correct but a sizeable proportion (25%) thought it may be considered in times of dire need.
Conclusion: Awareness of organ donation in our sample was high and more than half of the people were willing to become donors.