Original Article Social world of organ transplantation, trafficking, and policies Farhan Navid Yousaf* and Bandana Purkayastha Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut, Unit 1068, 344 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA *Corresponding author. Abstract Although success of organ transplants reflects advances in medical procedures, the success has generated debates about the ethical standards and poli- cies that govern transplants, especially the acquisition of organs for transplants. We focus on laws, policies, and organ trafficking to highlight the interdisciplinary perspectives that can shape our understanding of transplantation as a social phe- nomenon. We discuss international policies and country-specific legislation from Pakistan to point to gaps and their implications for protecting vulnerable people who are exploited for organ removal. International collaboration and the legal fra- mework need to be strengthened to fight the menace globally and to deal with the cases of organ trafficking within the legal ambit of human trafficking so that the rights of victims are upheld by states, justice systems, and ultimately medical estab- lishments and practitioners. Journal of Public Health Policy (2016) 37, 190–199. doi:10.1057/jphp.2016.2; published online 4 February 2016 Keywords: organ trafficking; illegal organ transplantation; organ trade; organ selling; ethical standards Introduction Since the second half of the twentieth century, the success of organ transplantation has enabled doctors to save the lives of many people who faced death from organ failure. While these transplants reflect advances in medical procedures, they have also generated debates about the ethical standards and policies that govern transplants. A particular aspect of these debates is how organs are acquired for transplants. Social scientists have documented the rise in organ trafficking as a high-profit illegal enterprise. Rather than the medical successes, we focus on the larger social world of laws, policies, and illegal organ transplants that exploit donors. © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 0197-5897 Journal of Public Health Policy Vol. 37, 2, 190–199 www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/