Why Organ Donation is Important to African Americans
Some diseases of the kidney, heart, lung, pancreas and liver are found more frequently in racial and ethnic minority populations than in the general population. For example, African Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders and Hispanics are three times more likely to suffer from kidney failure than Whites. Native Americans are four times more likely than Whites to suffer from diabetes. Some of these diseases are best treated through transplantation; others can only be treated through transplantation.
LifeCenter, the Tristate’s (OH, IN, KY) local nonprofit organ recovery agency, recently formed a committee designed to specifically increase the number of African Americans that are registered organ donors, which is chaired by Deborah Butler, an attorney with GE Capital.
“Successful transplantation often is enhanced by the matching of organs between members of the same ethnic and racial group,” says Butler. “For example, any patient is less likely to reject a kidney if it is donated by an individual who is genetically similar. Generally, people are genetically more similar to people of their own ethnicity or race than to people of other races. Therefore, a shortage of organs donated by minorities can contribute to death and longer waiting periods for minorities.”
On any given day, more than 80,000 Americans are waiting for an organ transplant. That number continues to rise by a new name every 14 minutes. Each day 16 people will die because an organ is not donated. Fifty-percent of those waiting for an organ transplant are minorities. Almost a full third of those waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S. are African American and 35% of those waiting for a kidney transplant are African American.
In the Greater Cincinnati area, the number of African Americans waiting on a kidney transplant is closer to 42% and that number continues to rise. The consent rate of African American families for organ donation in Greater Cincinnati has continued to rise over the last few years. It has grown from 25% in 1998 to 50% in 2001. This is good news. Still, there is a critical need for increased donation among African Americans.
Fortunately there is something you can do to save lives and reduce the number of African Americans waiting for an organ transplant. Effective July 1st the Ohio Donor Registry went into operation statewide. Now all an individual has to do is go to their local BMV and sign up to be an organ donor. Or contact LifeCenter for a donor registry enrollment form. Then have a conversation with your family. It’s just that simple. And thanks to this new legislation your wishes to be a donor can no longer be overturned by your loved ones.
Organ donation is starting to rise among minorities and lives are being saved, and it is largely attributed to increased efforts to educate our various communities. To learn more about organ and tissue donation and how you can help save lives, contact LifeCenter at 513-558-5555 or visit our website at http://www.lifecnt.org. Remember if you do nothing lives will be lost.
Source: Cincinnati Herald (USA);
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