Virtual Municipal Banks of Cell Donors - An innovative concept to promote Education for Donation in Transplantation and Disease Prevention

Abstract

The North Histocompatibility Centre - Portugal in partnership with the Municipal Council of Penafiel, created in the North of Portugal an innovative concept of civil society participation to promote cell and organ donation. The organization of virtual municipal banks of Bone Marrow Donors in close relationship with the North Histocompatibility Centre has involved the basic municipal structures in the country organization. Villages and small cities have official municipal services collaborating in cell, tissue, organs and cord blood donation promotion. 40 cities and villages started the project this year. In the city halls and official local buildings there are informative flyers, posters, educational DVDs about donation, newspapers with information about transplantation, papers to register as a donor, lists to register as a potential donor, information about collection dates to Bone Marrow donors in the city, neighboring towns or villages. In that municipal buildings can be found people who participated in educational meetings to be able to give local information about cell, tissue, organs donation and transplantation, web sites and educational material locally available. This innovative concept to mobilize civil society around transplantation and donation has also the implicit component of Education for Health in order to prevent diseases leading to the need for transplantation. Apealing to people to donate implicitly carries the responsibility to teach those same people to avoid diseases that lead to the need for transplantation. So, the second part of this partnership with local communities involves Schools. Teachers of Biology and Philosophy from the basic and medium schools are recruited to teach cell biology, concepts about diseases needing transplantation and ethics in transplantation. Local universities, especially higher education courses related to health are involved to collaborate in school teachers courses about these subjects. The Portuguese Transplantation Society supports these initiatives and educational material developed. The schools include in their curriculum the subject of donation and transplantation and develop discussions and free works with groups of students that are interested in the subject. The program in the schools has a fix part and a free one where students can do blogs, web sites, paintings, sculptures, meetings, poems, theatre, study visits to transplantation units or to the labs, etc The involvement of local communities in this way is much more creative and creates a stronger connection between health institutions and citizens. Local political power is much more effective mobilizing citizens than central governments. Using municipal councils to mobilize society around transplantation and donation we can reach the locals of proximity of those populations. The expected secondary achievement of this innovative concept it is not only increase donors but also reduce patients needing transplantation in the next years teaching healthy life styles. To reduce governmental budgets to transplantation by reducing patients is the financial desired achievement in the future.