National Minority Donor Awareness Month: Have You Registered As An Organ Donor, And Why Should You?

When it comes to deciding which patient on the waiting list will receive an organ made available by a donor, the non-profit Donate Life America explains, "race, income, gender, celebrity and social status are never considered". 

Only relevant factors go into this decision, as a national system matches each available organ to a patient desperately waiting for one — and they'd include things like the patient's blood type, health status, the size of their body, how long they've already been on the waiting list, and how far the hospital they're at is from the one at which the organ is located.

Thirty-two percent of living and deceased organ and tissue donors belonged to ethnic minority groups in 2019, and as the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) explains, "although organ transplants can be successful regardless of the race or ethnicity of the donor and recipient, there’s a greater chance of longer-term survival if the shared genetic background of the donor and recipient are closely matched".

We can see that supply isn't meeting demand, here — but what can be done to make sure that more people from diverse backgrounds get the organs and tissues that could save both their lives and greatly improve their quality of life?

Organ, eye, and tissue donation: Statistics you shouldn't miss

As of March 2020, over 112,000 people of all ages were waiting for an organ in the United States, and another person is added to the waiting list at a shocking rate of one every 10 minutes. Each year, more and more people are added to the waiting list, and the disparity between available donors and people in need of organ donations rises.

We've already seen that 60 percent of them aren't Caucasian. Of people waiting for an organ, eye, or tissue donation, most — more than 32,000 — are Black or African American. Almost 23,000 are Latinx or Hispanic, while thousands of Asians, Pacific Islander, Native American, and Alaskan Natives, are also waiting for donations. 

Caucasian Americans make up over 70 percent of deceased donors, while African Americans, the second-largest donor group, make up 14.1 percent. Latinx donors account for 12.1 percent of organ, tissue, and eye donors, while Asian, mixed-ethnicity, and other donors make up less than two percent each. 

What organs are people on the waiting list in need of? Here's a quick list:

• Kidneys are the most-needed organs, at over 80 percent — and they can even be donated by living donors!
• Livers take second place, with more than 10 percent of people on organ donation waiting lists needing this organ. 
• Hearts, lungs, and other organs can also save lives, with three percent of patients on waiting lists being in need of a heart, just over a percent requiring a lung, and others needing organs like a pancreas or intestines. 

What can you do?

This National Minority Donor Awareness Month, there is plenty you can do. 

You can inform yourself as you decide whether you would register as a donor.

Did you know, for instance, that you may very well be a suitable candidate to become a deceased donor even if you are older or live with a chronic medical condition? Even if not all your vital organs can be used, you may be able to save lives. 

Did you know that being an organ donor doesn't increase your medical costs? Or that Black Americans suffer from kidney failure at four times the rate of Caucasian Americans, while many more Caucasian donors are available and a closer genetic match increases the chance an organ transplant will be successful in the long-term? Or that many families who would have supported their relative in donating life-saving organs don't give permission to harvest their tissues when their loved one dies suddenly, because they are faced with this ginormous decision in the midst of unexpected, heart-breaking, grief?

You can register as an organ, eye, and tissue donor with your state, allowing any suitable organs to be donated and offer life to someone else if you die unexpectedly, in the process saving your family from having to make this choice for you.

You can discuss your wish to donate your organs after death with your family even if you don't register as a donor, so they will know what you'd want. 

If you are already registered as a donor, you can spread awareness in your community and on social media.