GLOBE

Exploring the health-related harms and needs of people who sell their kidneys and of patients with end-stage kidney disease in a migration context

 

The recorded number of people forced to flee their homes stands at its highest since recording began. In parallel, there is a growing number of people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Roughly 10% of the world’s population (800 million people) has chronic kidney disease (CKD) (ISN, 2019), which now ranks tenth of the world’s leading causes of death and is projected to be the fifth leading cause of death globally by 2040 (WHO, 2020).

The worldwide organ scarcity has led to a proliferating trade in organs that predominantly consists of trade in living donor kidneys (Columb, 2020; Ambagtsheer et al., 2016; Tong et al., 2012). Emerging scholarly work suggests that, in particular, irregular migrants (those who lack a legal basis for entering and residing in transit or host countries) are vulnerable to kidney sale (Columb, 2020).  Conversely, migrants with CKD face a lack of access to appropriate healthcare (El-Dassouki et al., 2021; Martin et al., 2022). In particular, migrants with end-stage-renal-disease face barriers in access to dialysis and kidney transplantation (Martin et al., 2022).

 

This PhD research project focuses on the intersections between migration, CKD, kidney sale and access to organ transplantation. It has three overarching aims:

1. to explore the health-related harms and needs of migrants who consider kidney sale or who have sold their kidney,
2. to explore the health-related harms and needs of migrants diagnosed with CKD;
3. to study the knowledge, experience and needs of health care professionals who treat both groups.

 

This research will be carried out through qualitative ethnographic fieldwork in The Netherlands, Jordan and Tunisia from 2025 until 2029.