At least half of the thousands of Americans waiting for a life-saving organ or tissue transplant are people of color. Still, too few minorities are registering to become organ donors.
August is National Minority Donor Awareness Month, designed to heighten awareness about donation and transplantation in multicultural communities. The National Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation Multicultural Action Group (NMAG), the sponsoring organization, works to improve the quality of life for people of color.
In particular, the organization’s officials are hoping more people will be open to register to donate tissue and organs because the need is so great.
“It’s important for us to save and improve lives,” said Remonia Chapman, a community outreach manager at Gift of Life and director of the Detroit Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program. “We’re trying to reach people where they are, to engage them in this conversation.”
More than 100,000 Americans are waiting for a life-saving organ. At least 60% of them are racial and ethnic minorities.
In Michigan, about 900 African Americans are on the waiting list to receive an organ.
Minorities tend to wait longer for organs. Although transplants can be successful regardless of the ethnicity of the donor and recipient, chances of long-term success and survival may be higher if the genetic backgrounds of donors and recipients closely match.
That means the long waits will continue if minorities don’t register to be donors.
During the month-long celebration, several organ donation organizations will focus on the need for higher numbers of organ, eye, and tissue donors among people of color. The donor organizations also aim to provide donor education, such as helping people understand they must be healthy to become donors. To promote that, the donor groups will work to boost healthy living and disease prevention.
Gift of Life encourages everyone to register to become a donor. To do so, check your driver’s license to see if you’ve already registered. If not, for more information, visit golm.org.
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