Reluctant to Give: Exploring Youth Attitudes Towards Organ Donation in Delhi

Abstract Introduction: India continues to grapple with a notable imbalance between the demand for and their actual availability of transplant organs, despite of concerted efforts in creating public awareness through mass campaigns and policy driven initiatives. While biomedical solution to this problem asks for more efforts for cadaveric or living donors as a viable way for addressing this challenge, the persistence shortage indicate existence of deeper and complex interrelationship between medical and socio cultural factors. Aim: This paper critically examines the socio-cultural factors influencing the reluctance to organ donation among youth in Delhi, the capital city of India. Material and Methods: Using online surveys and telephonic interviews this study has identified four thematic frameworks that converge together and shape the youth reluctance regarding organ donation. Result: By examining the ways in which youth today navigate in between the complex moral framework and societal values, this paper reframes the organ donation refusal not as a simple irrational act of the youth but as a conscious and contextually grounded act of resistance that are often been shaped by their cultural norms and institutional structure. Conclusion: Organ donation reluctance among the youth must be viewed as a culturally embedded decision-making process rather than a lack of awareness, calling for approaches that engage with the socio-cultural realities of contemporary youth. Keywords: Organ donation, youth, values and attitudes, cultural beliefs, transplantation