Willingness of Nigerians to Donate a Kidney

Background : Kidney transplantation is a popular modality of RRT in the developed world. Objective : To assess the willingness of the general population of Nigerians across the country to donate a kidney Methods : This is a multiregional, cross sectional, questionnaire based study. One thousand Three hundred respondents participated in the study. This study was carried out in four major Towns and cities across Nigeria between January 2009 and December 2010.The locations are Birnin Kebbi in the north, Ilorin in the middle belt, Iddo Ekiti in the south and Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria. The respondents were randomly selected within the four localities. Those below the age of 16 or above the age of 65 years were excluded from the study Results : There were 727 (55.9%) males. The mean age (S.D) of respondents was 39.5 (10.7) years. The largest population of participants, 494 (38.3%) were non health workers and 692 (53.2%) of them were Muslims. Eight hundred and fifty eight (66%) of the participants were willing to donate a kidney. Twenty five percent (25%) were not willing and 115 (8.9%) were not sure. Majority of those who were unwilling to donate a kidney, 325 (99.4%) will not change their minds even if they were to be given incentives Conclusion : Nigerians are willing to donate a kidney irrespective of geographical location, religion or gender and many are willing to do so altruistically. Keywords : Kidney, donation, Nigeria