CHICAGO (June 2, 2010) — Minority organ donations have more than doubled since the institution of grassroots awareness and education programs, according to a new retrospective study published in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. In 2010, the percentage of minority donors is expected to reach 35 percent, up from approximately 15 percent in 1990.
Since the first organ transplant in 1954, the shortage of organ donors has historically been, and continues to be, the number one problem in transplantation. Organ shortages have been most acute among minorities, especially in the African American population. Organ shortage is an issue because minorities continue to constitute more than half of the patients on the kidney transplant waiting list (African Americans — 34 percent, Hispanic/Latinos — 18 percent, Asian — 8 percent). In addition, it is estimated that each kidney donor provides $135,000 in medical cost savings per patient, a savings of more than $200 million that would be associated with a 35 percent minority donor rate.
An awareness of the scarcity of minority donors was the impetus for a grassroots program at Howard University in Washington, DC. In 1978, a group of 40 individuals were brought together to gain an understanding of why minorities were reluctant to become organ donors. Program leaders uncovered five key obstacles: 1) lack of awareness, 2) religious beliefs and misperceptions, 3) distrust of the medical community, 4) fear of premature death after signing a donor card, and 5) fear of racism. They also learned that face-to-face discussions with culturally sensitive and ethnically similar messengers helped overcome these obstacles.
“This research to uncover obstacles to organ donation helped serve as the basis for a local grassroots program in the Washington, DC area. It has now grown into a national initiative that is funded with $10 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other sources,” said Clive Callender, MD, FACS, a prominent transplantation pioneer and surgeon at Howard University, and founder of the National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP).
“We founded MOTTEP, the first program of this type in the country, to increase organ and tissue donations not only among the African American community, but within multiple ethnic minority groups. Since then we have added a disease prevention aspect that focuses on education efforts to decrease the rate of ethnic minority Americans who need organ and tissue transplants in the first place,” Callender added.
MOTTEP focuses on overcoming the challenges associated with minority donation by creating an organ and tissue transplant education program that employs the strategies of community participation and direction, face-to-face presentations, collaboration and partnerships, media promotion, information dissemination and evaluation. The national MOTTEP model reaches an average of 700,000 people each year and has been adapted to local MOTTEP site efforts in Honolulu (with a focus on Filipino and Hawaiian Pacific Islander communities), Chicago and Northwest Indiana, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Detroit.
As part of MOTTEP’s disease prevention efforts, pre- and postintervention questionnaires are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. This evaluation process has also allowed MOTTEP to collect valuable data on the habits of youth participants, such as smoking, drinking, exercise, and healthy eating habits. To date, 6,789 youth participants (ages 12 to 18) have been surveyed on the immediate effects of the intervention. Researchers found that the changes were highly significant for 9 of the 11 (p< 0.01) variables measured, with beliefs about organ and tissue donation, illness prevention to end-stage renal failure, and future plans about organ and tissue donation all seeing positive direction change.
About the American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 77,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit www.facs.org.
People of all backgrounds should be encouraged to donate their organs when they die.Over half of the 107,000 Americans on the national transplant waiting list will die before they get a transplant. Most of these deaths are needless. Americans bury or cremate about 20,000 transplantable organs every year. Over 9,000 of our neighbors suffer and die needlessly every year as a result.There is a simple way to put a big dent in the organ shortage — give organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. People who aren’t willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at http://www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition. LifeSharers has 14,000 members, including members in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.David J. Undis Executive Director LifeSharers