WILLINGNESS, KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS ORGANS AND
BODY CADAVER DONATION AMONG UGANDANS.
Ndyamuhakyi Elisa
Reg No: 2022-01-09278
Department of Anatomy
A RESEARCH CONCEPT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTERS DEGREE OF ANATOMY AT
KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY.
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Outline
 Abbreviations
 Operational definitions
 Background
 Problem statement
 Study objectives
 Research Questions
 Justification
 Significance of the study
 Conceptual Framework
 Methodology
 References
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Abbreviations
SWU: South Western Uganda
LMICs: Low and Middle-income Countries
WHO: World Health Organization
KIU: Kampala International University
COD: Cadaveric Organ Donation
UNOS: United Nations Organ Sharing
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Operational Definitions
 Organ donation: Voluntary giving an organ (transplant) to help someone who needs it
(recipient) to survive or for medical training and display purposes (WHO, 2020).
 Live donation: Type of donation where a living person voluntary donates part of, one of
organs such as Kidney, skin, bone marrow and blood can be donated in this way.
 Deceased donation/cadaveric organ donation (COD): After death, several organs such as
heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, small bowel etc can be donated.(UNOS, 2014; WHO, 2020).
 Body donation: A complete body/organism is voluntary given for dissection in medical
training institutions, plastinated and displayed in museum centers (Mwachaka et al., 2016)
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Background
• Globally; More than 150 000 annual solid organ transplants are done with 52% annual increase though still less than 10%
of the global need (Global Observatory On Donation and Transplantation, 2021).
• In Africa: Only 35 kidney donation and transplant centers with only 643 organ transplants performed in 2016 which was
lower than in the global regions (WHO, 2020). This gap is due to low capacity, poor surveillance and lack of laws governing
donation and transplantation (WHO, 2022). This has resulted to increased human and organ trafficking and murder cases
(INTERPOL, 2021).
• Uganda does not conduct any organ transplant due to inadequate capacity (infrastructure, policy and skilled personnel)
and data on willingness of public to donate (Ministry of Health Uganda, 2022). Ugandan parliament is processing an organ
donation and transplant bill to protect donor and recipients and foster establishment of organ donation centers
(Parliament Of Uganda, 2021).
• No data regarding willingness , knowledge and attitude towards organ donation in Uganda yet the success of donation
program depends on it.
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Problem statement
• Human trafficking to attain organs and bodies for transplants and cadavers for anatomical dissection has increased of recent
(WHO, 2022). This has resulted in an increased murder crime rates both national and internationally and become public
health concern (INTERPOL, 2021).
• Ugandan parliament is processing an organ donation and transplant act and also to establish the organ donation and
transplant system.
• Organ donation and transplant program not only relies on presence of policies, health structure but also other factors like
willingness, awareness and attitude of public to organ donation services.
• A single study among caregivers in four health facilities offering dialysis facilities for patients with end stage kidney failure
presents the willingness and attitude towards kidney organ donation and transplant (Bunori et al., 2022). This was done
among caretakers whose patients who needed transplant which could have biased their response.
• Our study seeks to assess the willingness , knowledge and attitude of Ugandans towards organ/body donation and
transplant services.
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Study objectives
• General objective.
• To assess knowledge, attitude and willingness to donate organs and body cadavers
among Ugandans.
• Specific objectives.
• Determine the willingness to donate body cadavers among Ugandans.
• To ascertain attitude towards organ and cadaver donation among Ugandans.
• To assess knowledge regarding organ and cadaver donation among Ugandans.
• Determine the association between knowledge, attitude and willingness to donate
organs and cadavers among Ugandan community.
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Research Questions
• How willing are Ugandans to donate organs and body cadavers?
• How knowledgeable regarding organ/body donation and transplant services are
Ugandans?
• What is the attitude of Ugandans towards organ and body donation ?
• Does knowledge and attitude influence willingness to organ and cadaver among
Ugandan population?
• What is the association between demographic characteristics with willingness to
donate body organs?
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Justification study
To Health policy-makers:
• Findings will act to inform policy the need to establish organ and cadaver donation
System and to sensitize the public regarding organ and cadaveric donation.
To health workers & institutions:
• Will inform hospitals and medical training institutions to integrate awareness and
training on organ donation among medical and non-medical students since they are
future health care workers and potential organ donor or recipients.
To Scholarly community:
• Will contribute to literature body regarding organ and body donation in Uganda.
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Scope of the study
• Content scope
Study of willingness, knowledge and attitude towards organ/body donation.
• Study area
Selected districts in from different regions sampled from multistage stratified sampling
• Geographical scope
It will be conducted in all four regions of Uganda.
• Time scope
This study will take place in 3 months period.
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Conceptual Framework
Independent variables
Social-demographic
Dependent variables
Knowledge on organ/body
donation.
 Age
 Sex
 Type of Residence
 Willingness to donate
 Marital status
Organs/body cadavers
 Education Level
 Occupation.
 History of donation.
Attitude towards organ/ body
donation.
Methodology
Study design: Cross sectional study
Study population
 Ugandan citizens from its four regions who fulfill the inclusion and exclusion criteria will be involved in
this study.
Inclusion criteria:
• Ugandans who are 18 years old and above and willing to participate in the study.
Exclusion Criteria
• Mentally incompetent individuals: with dementia or any other cognitive impairment will be excluded
from participating in this study.
• People who are or caretaking patients to undergo organ transplant surgery will be excluded
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Methodology
Sampling procedure
• Multi stage stratified sampling techniques. Based on divisions of Uganda (Uganda National
Beureau of Statistics, 2020).
• Stage 1: Study area divided into clusters (Regions): Western, Central, Eastern and Northern region.
• Stage 2: Clusters will be subdivided into sub clusters/Sub regions: Buganda, Tooro, Elgon, Acholi.
• Stage 3: Sub clusters will be subdivided into cities/districts.
• Stage 4: Using simple random sampling, 5 Cities/districts will be selected & studied.
Kampala in Buganda, Kamwenge in Tooro, Mbale in Elgon, Gulu in Acholi sub region.
• Stage 5: Study participants in districts will be selected by simple random sampling.
• Sample size: By Cochran’s formula for cross sectional studies (Cochran, 1977) ( about 402
participants).
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Data Management, analysis and presentation
• Each questionnaire will be coded, kept in lockable cabin only accessed by the researcher.
• Data will be checked for errors, cleaned and entered into Microsoft excel spreadsheet and analyzed with
STATA version 14.
• Knowledge will be graded basing on the scores achieved: Low (less than 50%), Moderate (50-70%) and
High knowledge (greater than 70%).
• Willingness, attitude and knowledge on organ and cadaveric donation will be determined by uni-variate
analysis. Association of willingness with demographics, knowledge and attitude be determined by
bivariate and multivariate logistic regression.
• Summarized into percentages, frequencies, medians, means and standard deviations then presented in
tables and figure.
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References
• Bunori, H., Izudi, J., Alege, J. B., & Bajunirwe, F. (2022). Willingness of caregivers to donate a kidney to a patient with end-
stage renal disease: Findings from four dialysis providing health facilities in Uganda. PLOS Global Public Health, 2(4), 12.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000287.
• Uganda
National
Bureau
of
Statistics.
(2020).
Regions
and
Sub
regions
of
Uganda
(Issue
May).
https://data.unhcr.org/fr/documents/download/76380.
• UNODC. (2020). OSCE Action Plan. In Addressing the root causes of trafficking Overview.
• WHO. (2022). Human organ and tissue transplantation Report by the Director-General (Vol. 74, Issue April).
• World Health Organization. (2020). STATUS OF HUMAN ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION AND TRANSPLANTATION IN THE
WHO AFRICAN REGION. In R. committee for Africa (Ed.), STATUS OF HUMAN ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION AND
TRANSPLANTATION
IN
THE
WHO
AFRICAN
REGION
(Issue
August,
p.
5).
WHO.
https://www.afro.who.int/sites/default/files/2021-02/AFR-RC70-12 Status of human organ and tissue donation and
transplantation.pdf.
• Parliament Of Uganda. (2021). Organ donation and Transplant Bill. UPPC Entebbe, by order of government.
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