Health-related petitions are extremely popular amongst the 100 million users on Change.org.

While there are a number of campaigns tackling issues that affect the health of large groups of people on an everyday basis – like the one that got Kraft to stop using artificial yellow dyes in Mac & Cheese – some of our biggest victories tell very personal stories.

Many of these personal stories involve the petitioner asking for expanded or compassionate use. These are cases where people are asking for medications or treatments that are currently unavailable to them, their loved ones, or in many cases anyone in their country affected by an illness.

The victory that leads our top 5 health victories is one such case. In 2013, Sarah Murnaghan was a 10-year-old with end-stage Cystic Fibrosis. She needed a lung transplant to live, and while she qualified for adult lungs, she could not get to the top of the adult transplant list because she was younger than 12.

Her mother started a petition to ask the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to make an exceptional ruling for Sarah.

Sarah’s mother also asked that OPTN/UNOS recommend new policies for the transplant list. As a result, children under 12 are now allowed on the adult transplant list on a case-by-case basis.

As we’ve seen with many other victories at Change.org, what started as a personal fight for Sarah will impact other children in need of transplants for years to come.

To create this list, below, we took looked at all of the winning health petitions on Change.org and highlighted the most popular victories by signature count.

 

5 Most Popular Health Victories on Change.org

1. Allow Transplants of Adult Lungs to Children

Country: United States
Date of Victory: June 17, 2013
Number of Signatures: 373,117

Sarah Murnaghan, a 10-year-old with end-stage Cystic Fibrosis, was denied adult lungs because of her age. So her family petitioned the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to allow children under 12 to be considered for the adult lung transplant list on a case-by-case basis. See Victory

 

2. Let our Children Have Access to Drugs

Country: Turkey
Date of Victory: April 30, 2015
Number of Signatures: 367,548

Sahin Yıldız’s daughter has Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS), a genetic disease in which the body’s enzymes don’t break down fat and sugar. Yildiz petitioned several government ministries after her daughter’s treatment was not reimbursable by SSI. See Victory

 

3. Kraft: Stop Using Dangerous Food Dyes in Our Mac & Cheese

Country: United States
Date of Victory: April 20, 2015
Number of Signatures: 365,806

Vani Hari petitioned Kraft Foods to remove artificial yellow dyes from all Macaroni & Cheese products by 2016, as they had previously done in the UK. See Victory

 

4. Tell USDA to STOP Using Pink Slime in School Food!

Country: United States
Date of Victory: May 27, 2012
Number of Signatures: 258,869

Bettina Seigel started a petition asking the USDA to stop the use of ground beef containing pink slime (a mixture of beef scraps and connective tissue) for school food. See Victory

 

5. Valencia: Don’t Deny our Son Miguel Compassionate Use of the Drug He Needs

Country: Spain
Date of Victory: January 30, 2015
Number of Signatures: 255,871

Michael Garcia is a 12-year-old suffering from a neurodegenerative disease called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), which causes rapid loss of muscle function. His mother petitioned the Ministry of Health of Valencia to allow him access to the drug Translarna, which was being used in several other cases in Spain. See Victory

 

Passionate about health care issues? Here are some petitions that might interest you:

• Add a need-based component to Medicaid
• Protest High Cancer Drug Prices so all Patients with Cancer have Access to Affordable Drugs to Save their Lives
• Tell Fisher-Price: Don’t Hide What’s Inside