About National Minority Donor Awareness Day
National Minority Donor Awareness Day takes place on the first day of National Minority Donor Awareness Week.
Observed annually from August 1st through 7th, National Minority Donor Awareness Week creates awareness of the need for more organ, eye, and tissue donors, especially among minorities.
National Minority Donor Awareness Week is a special observance that honors minorities who have been organ, eye and tissue donors, and it encourages others to register as donors and take better care of their health in order to reduce the number needing a transplant. It began in 1996.
The Need for Minority Donors in the United States: Minorities make up 58 percent of those currently on an organ transplant waiting list.
In 2014, 42 percent of all those needing transplants in the U.S. were minorities. Seventy percent of minority transplant recipients received kidneys. And 32 percent of all deceased donors nationwide were minorities. Almost 35 percent of the more than 100,000 people on the national waiting list for a kidney transplant are African-American.
According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “African-Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics/Latinos are three times more likely than Caucasians to suffer from end-stage renal (kidney) disease, often as the result of high blood pressure and other conditions that can damage the kidneys. Almost 35 percent of the more than 100,000 people on the national waiting list for a kidney transplant are African-American.”
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