(credit:Google)
Facebook on Tuesday launched an organ donation tool aimed at encouraging the 900 million users of the social networking site to help combat a shortage of organs needed for life-savingtransplants.
"What we hope will happen is that by just having a simple tool, we think that people can really help spread awareness of organ donation and that they want to participate in this to their friends, and we think that can be a big part in helping to solve the crisis," chief executive 'Mark Zuckerberg' said on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" program on Tuesday.
Starting on Tuesday, Facebook users in the United States and U.K. will be able to add that they are organ donors to their timelines, and if they're not organ donors, they can find links to official organ donation registries and instantly enroll.
Zuckerberg explained that he was in part inspired by dinner conversations with his girlfriend, a pediatrician in training, and by observing what members achieved in times of crisis.
"When the tornadoes came through in Missouri a lot people were using Facebook to organize and return items that were lost to people who thought they would never find them," Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg said the project was also inspired by his friendship with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Though Zuckerberg never talked with Jobs specifically about a Facebook donation tool, he said many of the people involved in the project were inspired after Jobs' death from pancreatic cancer. Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant in 2009, was a champion of the cause of organ donation.
"That definitely, I think, was something that we all had in mind as we were building this out ... His story is just one of many, of people who both were able to have an organ transplant that made his life longer and he was extremely thankful for that," Zuckerberg said.
He added that he hoped when members explained how they came to be organ donors and advertised that they are organ donors on their pages, it would inspire others who were undecided about the issue.
Surveys have pointed to reasons as to why not enough people consent to be donors. Many are unaware of the great need for donor organs, while others mistrust the medical establishment and think they will not get life-saving measures if doctors know they are a donor.
An average of 79 people receive organ transplants every day, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
However, an average 18 people die each day waiting for transplants because of the shortage of donated organs.
(courtesy:news.yahoo.com)
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