At the start of DonateLife Week, which runs until next Sunday, the organisation revealed just one in five Victorians who are eligible to donate have officially registered to donate their organs or tissue when they die.

There are about 1800 Australians on the transplant waiting list, and 12,000 people on dialysis for kidney failure.

But the number of Australians signing on to become organ and tissue donors dropped last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as did the number of transplants carried out.

Alongside the 980 people from the Ballarat local government area who enrolled on the register during 2020, there were 200 from Golden Plains, 80 from Central Goldfields council area, 160 from Hepburn and 60 from the Pyrenees Shire Council.

DonateLife are urging 100,000 more Australians to sign up during DonateLife Week in the Great Registration Race.

DonateLife Victoria medical director Dr Rohit D'Costa said when a person was registered as an organ and tissue donor, their family had one less decision to make during a highly-emotional time.

"The biggest barrier to families saying yes to donation is not knowing their family member was willing to be a donor," Dr D'Costa said.

"In a hospital setting, discussing organ and tissue donation comes at an intensely emotional time for families, usually associated with the unexpected death of their loved one.

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"When donation is a possibility, it helps when families know what their loved one wanted."

Dr D'Costa said nine in 10 families agreed to donation when their loved one was a registered donor, but that number dropped by half when the person was not registered and had not discussed organ and tissue donation with their family.

Last year there was a 12 per cent drop in people receiving a transplant, a 16 per cent decrease in donors and a 16 per cent fall in Australians registering as donors compared to the previous year. Flight reductions and border closures added to the complexity of the donation process during the pandemic.

To register visit donatelife.gov.au/register

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