For Your Information: Organ Trafficking (WHO Topic B)
One
issue that the World Health Organization (WHO) has been attending to is organ
trafficking. Organ trafficking is the act of selling organs for organ transplants,
which is considered illegal in every country except Iran. However, the main
reason this occurs is because the demand for organs far outstrips its supply.
This shortage causes a myriad of negative externalities that affect many
people. Therefore, the WHO has been addressing such issues by enforcing new
laws to regulate organ trafficking.
Although
organ transplants represent a huge advancement in life saving treatment, it
also encourages organ trafficking. The invention of organ transplants meant
that people could now receive ‘new’ organs. However, with no incentive to
donate organs legally, people started to illegally "donate" or sell
organs for money to wealthier nations. Organ traffickers manipulate people in
desperate need of money and trick poor and uneducated people into giving up
their organs for a fraction of the price that it would cost for a legitimate
procedure. Usually, the traffickers end up earning much more money trading
organs than they spend buying organs. This repetitive transaction between organ
givers and organ traffickers is what keeps the black market for organs going.
Organ
traffickers have many methods of obtaining the organs to supply their needs. As
introduced earlier, one method is to discriminate prices by manipulating
people's weaknesses to their own advantage. Also, it is extremely dangerous for
people in third world countries to give away their organs (esp. their kidneys)
as this results in an increased possibility of them falling ill in unsanitary conditions.
Additionally, these organs are sometimes taken by brute force and lead to an
even higher risk of death.
In response to
these issues, the WHO has spared no effort in finding solutions. Overall, it
has boiled down to the basic act of implementing a stronger and stricter policy
to prohibit illegal organ trafficking or increasing the incentives for people
to donate and receive organs via legitimate channels. For example, in exchange
for the donation, people can receive indirect payment through insurances or
medical treatment. Although many solutions have been hashed through the
exchange of ideas, a critical solution that better addresses the problem still
waits to be achieved.
by Janette Rhee
Photos courtesy of http://humantraffickingsearch.net/wp/organ-trafficking-around-the-world/
