An Overview of Organ Harvest and Vulnerability: Assessing the Impact on At-risk Groups in Mararaba, Nigeria

Abstract

Human organ harvest is said to be the illicit removal and sale of human organs, is a type of human trafficking which involves exploitation of vulnerable and impoverished individuals who are manipulated with the promise of financial relief. This study examines the increasing organ harvesting crisis in Mararaba, Nigeria, the main objective was examining factors responsible for organ harvest, the study rely on a multidisciplinary theoretical framework which includes conflict theory, vulnerability theory, and routine activity theory, the study found out that poverty, weak institutional frameworks, and systemic inequality as factors responsible for certain populations vulnerable to exploitation, This paper focuses on Human organ harvest and analyses the regulatory framework for the prevention of organ harvest in Nigeria. Relying on this, the paper recommends mainstreaming of a human rights-based approach to the regulation of organ donation and addressing the multi-dimensional drivers of organ harvest.