In this episode of the Digital Public Health Podcast, Rasmus Cloes talks to Sonja Schäfer, the organ donation officer for the state of Bremen. The topic is the new digital organ donor registry, which has been available in Germany since March 2024.
Together, they explore whether and how digitization can help encourage more people to decide for or against organ donation—and whether that alone is enough.
The digital registry makes it easy to register your organ donation wishes online. However, access is anything but easy: high barriers to registration, a lack of awareness, and a lack of digital education are hindering its use. Sonja Schäfer explains why the 45 to 60 age group is the most active – and why personal conversations with relatives remain the most important factor.
Organ donation: building trust through education
Whether through social media, school lessons, or traditional living wills, education works on many levels. Sonja Schäfer describes how she raises awareness of the issue among young people and why a single conversation within the family is often more decisive than any technological solution. Listen now to find out why digitalization can only be part of the solution – and how real education can strengthen organ donation willingness in the long term.
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