National Minority Donor Awareness Day

(organ donor)

HISTORY OF NATIONAL MINORITY DONOR AWARENESS DAY

National Minority Donor Awareness Day is part of National Minority Donor Awareness Week. Both events were started as a way to increase organ donation among minority communities. National Minority Donor Awareness Week is observed in the first week of August each year to honor the contribution of multicultural donors and their families, while also highlighting the urgent need from minority communities to register themselves as organ, eye, and tissue donors. Although it is not uncommon for a candidate to match a donor from another racial or ethnic group, transplant success rates increase exponentially when organs are matched between members of the same ethnic background. This means that a dearth of organs donated by certain communities may lead to longer waiting periods for transplantation.

Within the African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander-American communities, experts have voiced concerns about the serious shortage of transplants. Minorities make up 57% of those on the organ waiting list and only 30% of the donor population. Minority patients are often at an increased need for transplants affecting the heart, kidney, pancreas, and liver due to unavoidable or chronic conditions. Healthcare facilities take into consideration several factors when matching donors to recipients but blood type is the most critical component. Since ethnic groups tend to have similar blood types, success rates increase when recipients are paired within the same ethnic or racial group. While one doesn’t have to depend only on donors of the same race for a successful transplant, a similar ethnic or racial background makes the process smoother and more likely to be a success.

Yet another focus of the day includes acknowledging minorities who have donated. Along with educating people about the need to donate organs, the day also encourages them to register themselves as donors. National Minority Donor Awareness Day also tries to inculcate good health habits in people so that there may be a decreased need for an organ transplant.

Source : https://nationaltoday.com/national-minority-donor-awareness-day/

Please consider supporting the following organization:

Caribbean Bone Marrow Registry