Bringing organ donation into focus: Nationwide community engagement efforts through the Live On Festival
May Thu Ko1, Benjamin Ho1, Gena Fong1, Yee Ling Chow1, Alden Lim1, Inez Yeo1, Sally Kong1, Chee Kiat Tan1.
1National Organ Transplant Unit, Ministry of Health, Singapore, Singapore
Deceased organ donation rates in the Southeast Asian region have been consistently low due to traditional cultural barriers to donation. Despite interventions ranging from awareness campaigns to a legislated presumed consent system, Singapore’s organ donation rates remain suboptimal. While youths are recognised as a key audience for organ donation awareness efforts, there is little room for nuanced and values-based conversations about organ donation against the backdrop of a highly competitive and fast-paced mainstream education curriculum. Therefore, we developed a targeted national campaign, Live On Festival (LOF), to bridge this gap by providing an enticing platform for youths to explore the complexities surrounding organ donation in a value-driven and age-appropriate manner. Grounded on behavioural frameworks such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour and COM-B model, LOF seeks to normalise conversations around organ donation. As part of LOF, secondary school students in Singapore between ages of 13 to 16 years first gain an emotional connection to organ donation through interactive educational talks, which are then followed by participation in an art and essay competition. Since its inception in 2018, LOF has demonstrated a steady growth in both the reach and engagement. LOF has expanded from 2.5% (i.e. 4) in 2018 to over 84% (i.e.125) in 2024 of all secondary schools in Singapore, with more than 16,000 students attending the talks and more than 5,800 entries submitted for the competition. This trajectory suggests that sustained school-based engagement efforts, grounded on insights from behavioural frameworks, may potentially positively influence our youths’ attitudes and interests towards organ donation. Over time, these early interventions lay a strong foundation for societal change with the fostering of more informed attitudes, strengthening pro-social norms and enhancing individuals’ ability to communicate about organ donation, all of which are important to increasing organ donation rates in Singapore.
[1] Public Communications
[2] Community Engagements
[3] Youth Engagements