Vital Stats – 121K:  Number of Men, Women and Children in the US in need of an organ transplant.(Source: Montefiore Medical Center) 

National Minority Donor Awareness Week, celebrated annually from Aug. 1-7, is a nationwide observance to honor the generosity of multicultural donors and their families, while also underscoring the critical need for people from diverse communities to register their decision to Donate Life as organ, eye and tissue donors. To raise awareness for this important issue, Montefiore Medical Center will be holding a series of events throughout the Bronx. A single donor can save or heal the lives of more than 50 people. 

While people of all ages and ethnicities can save and enhance lives through donation, organs are matched to recipients by a variety of factors—such as blood and tissue type—which can vary by race and ethnicity. While skin color is not a barrier when it comes to organ donations and transplants, the odds of a transplant being successful are much greater when a minority recipient receives an organ from a minority donor.

Currently, 121,000 men, women and children in the United States are in need of a lifesaving transplant. Largely due to the rarity of donation opportunities, only about 28,000 organs are transplanted each year.  As a result, 21 candidates die each day for lack of a donor.  Minorities make up 57 percent of the men, women and children on the national organ transplant waiting list even though they account for 36 percent of the total population.

Why is it important for minorities to become donors?
Many of the conditions leading to the need for a transplant — such as diabetes and hypertension — occur with greater frequency among minority populations.

Ethnic minorities are in desperate need of more organ and tissue donors.  There are more than 69,000 minority individuals (this number includes Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, American Indians, Pacific Islanders and people of multiracial descent) registered on the U.S. organ transplant waiting list.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, successful transplantation often is enhanced by the matching of organs between members of the same ethnic and racial group. 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.

Is there a greater need for any particular organ among minorities?
Kidneys are at the top of the list. Approximately 63 percent of those waiting for kidney transplants are minorities.  Currently, more than 63,000 minority individuals are waiting for kidney transplants. For these patients, the lack of available organs means longer waiting periods on transplant lists, more time spent on dialysis and sometimes death.

How can someone become an organ, eye and tissue donor?
Visit www.donatelife.net/register-now and click on New York State. You can also donate through the New York Department of Motor Vehicles when you renew your driver’s license.