ONE VOICE, ONE VISION …TO SAVE AND HEAL LIVES
Norcross, GA – August is National Minority Donor Awareness Month (NMDAM), an annual collaborative effort spearheaded by the National Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation Multicultural Action Group (NMAG) to save and improve the quality of life of diverse communities by creating a positive culture for organ, eye and tissue donation.
In the United States, the need for lifesaving organs far exceeds the supply – currently, the national transplant waiting list stands at more than 100,000 people. A majority (60%) of people on the waiting list represent racial and ethnic minorities. Tragically, 16 people die every day waiting for a transplant.1
National Minority Donor Awareness Month was founded in 1996 by the National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program and Clive Callender, M.D., to bring heightened awareness to health disparities, and organ donation and transplantation’s impact in minority communities.
“We have an urgent need for more organ donors, and nowhere is this need more pronounced than in minority communities that have disproportionately higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, which can contribute to organ failure, particularly kidney failure,” said Dr. Callender. “One of our main goals during National Minority Donor Awareness Month and year long is to tell these important stories, and bring more attention within multicultural communities about the critical need and the ability to help through donation.”
Within kidney disease, Black Americans are more than 4 times more likely to develop kidney failure than white Americans. The prevalence of kidney failure among Hispanic/Latino Americans and Native Americans is over twice as high as among white people, according to the U.S. Renal Data System.
On average, African American/Black transplant candidates wait longer than non-Black transplant candidates for heart, and lung transplants.2 These healthcare disparities underscore the need for National Minority Donor Awareness Month education and outreach to help heal and save lives in our communities.
This month, NMAG encourages everyone to elevate the need for more organ, eye and tissue donors within multicultural communities, provide donation education, encourage donor registration, and promote healthy living and disease prevention to decrease the need for transplantation.
Thanks to the generosity of donors and donor families, and the dedication of donation and transplantation professionals, more than 46,000 people — including more than 23,000 from racial and ethnic minorities — received a lifesaving organ transplant in 20233.
For resources and more information on National Minority Donor Awareness Month, visit DonateLife.net and nmag1.org. Donation infographic handouts, printable flyers, web banners, and social media graphics are available to the public in both English and Spanish.
You can register your decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor at your local DMV or in the National Donate Life Registry at RegisterMe.org or in your iPhone Health App.
NMAG members: American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB), the American Kidney Fund, Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT), Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO), Donate Life America (DLA), Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA), Heath Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP), National Kidney Foundation (NKF), Student Organ Donation Advocates (SODA), The Links, Incorporated, the Transplant Life Foundation, University of Pittsburgh DEI Health Sciences, and the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
1 Health Resources & Services Administration https://www.organdonor.gov/learn/organ-donation-statistics, accessed July 18, 2024
2 SRTR Risk Adjustment Model Documentation: Waiting List Models, accessed July 29, 2024, https://www.srtr.org/reports-tools/waiting-list/
3Data from Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) data as of July 18, 2024, https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/
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National Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation Multicultural Action Group (NMAG)
The mission of NMAG is to save and improve the quality of life in diverse multicultural communities by creating a positive culture of donation. This is achieved with the following goals: increase transplantation through organ, eye and tissue donation; increase the number of living organ donors; reduce the rate and need for transplantation through disease prevention education. nmag1.org
Media Contact:
Bobby Howard
National Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation Multicultural Action Group
[email protected]
404-354-2713
