ArticlePLOS global public health2024
Why do people sell their kidneys? A thematic synthesis of qualitative evidence.
Article in PLOS global public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- From recruitment to regret: a crime script analysis of illegal kidney donation in Pakistan.BMC medical ethics · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Globally, demands for the kidneys have surpassed supply both living and deceased donors. High demands relative to the availability have made the kidney one of the most saleable human organs. The main objective was to explore the drivers of kidney selling. Literature related to kidney selling and its drivers was explored in three databases including MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus (Elsevier), and JSTOR covering the period from 1987 to 2022. A total of 15 articles were selected, which underwent thematic analysis. Investigators independently assessed the articles for relevance and study quality to synthesize the data. The thematic analysis involved a critical approach to understanding the reasons for kidney selling by examining power disparities and social inequities. Kidney selling and the underlying reasons for it showed similarities across various geographic regions. Several factors were identified which increased individuals' vulnerability for kidney selling. At the micro level, poverty and illiteracy emerged as significant factors. Lack of financial safety nets obliged family to resort to kidney selling which helped to alleviate poverty, resolve debt, and other urgent financial issues. Nonetheless, the revenues from kidney selling were also used to purchase luxury items (diverting away from investing in livelihood expenses) such as buying motorbikes, mobile phones and televisions. Family, and gender responsibilities also played roles in kidney selling such as obligations related to paying dowry made parents particularly vulnerable. Surprisingly, a few victims of kidney selling later adopted kidney brokering role to support their livelihood. Kidney selling was further fostered by lack of stringent policy to regulate and monitor background checks for kidney transplantation. There were myriad factors that affected individual's vulnerability to kidney selling which stemmed from micro (poverty, illiteracy), meso (weak legal system, lacking stringent institutional policy, regulatory framework) and macro (social inequalities, corruption, organ shortage, insufficient health infrastructure) levels.
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Registered trials
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