A group of Kenyan high school- girls have revolutionised kidney donation by creating a donor app. The app, developed with the help of their teacher, is a doctor-donor-recipient portal that shortens the time that patients must wait for organs and is especially useful in a country that does not have a formalised donor system.Now in its pilot phase, the app is being tested by Kenyan hospitals.Although South Africa already has a similar system in place, a patient on the kidney transplant waiting list is keen for the innovative app to arrive here.It has been 26 years since Casper Walkers, 66, was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease - a disorder he inherited from his father.Patients with this disease develop clusters of cysts (non-cancerous sacs containing water-like fluid) within their kidneys.Walkers, an Organ Donor Foundation volunteer from Centurion, near Pretoria, said the app could, in conjunction with the current system, assist patients to find donors."Many people aren't aware of the difference they could make if they became an organ donor."Some patients die after waiting for years for a transplant," he said.Walker is one of about 1,400 South Africans, adults and children, waiting for a kidney transplant.According to Organ Donor Foundation statistics, a patient waiting for a kidney transplant who does not have a family member or friend who can donate a compatible kidney can wait for up to eight years for a transplant.Foundation executive director Samantha Nicholls said South Africa was in "desperate need" of more organs. She said the lack of understanding and education about organ donating was the foundation's biggest problem.She encouraged those who have signed up, or want to, to tell their family immediately."In South Africa, even if you have indicated your wish to be an organ donor by signing up with our foundation, the family will, nevertheless, be asked for consent at the time of death," said Nicholls.An estimated 81 kidney transplants were performed in 2014 and a further 3,000 patients are waiting for organs such as hearts, lungs, pancreases and livers.There are almost 200,000 donors on the foundation's database. More than 43,000 signed up last year.Visit www.odf.org.za or call 0800-22-66-11 toll-free...