Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias joined community groups, leaders, donor families, and recipients earlier this week to highlight the need for minorities and people of color to join the state’s organ donation registry.
During the month of August, Giannoulias and his office are working to create a positive culture and idea around organ donations across multicultural communities through both outreach and education.
As per data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Black people have the greatest need for organ transplants – specifically for kidneys, hearts, and lungs; of the total number of people waiting for a transplant in Illinois, more than 36% are Black, 22% are Hispanic, and 6% are Asian American.
There is a pressing need for greater organ donation participation in minority communities, as several kidney, heart, lungs, liver, and pancreas diseases are more prevalent among them.
While transplants are not matched according to race or ethnicity, people of color who are waiting for an organ transplant will have a better chance of receiving one if there are more donors from their racial or ethnic background; to this point, matches between donors and recipients of different races and ethnicities are very common.
Still, compatible blood types and tissue markers are more likely to be found among people of the same race or ethnicity.
The Secretary of State – to this point – noted:
“My hope is that communities across Illinois of all backgrounds, races and ethnicities can be informed and have a positive outlook on organ donation and its life-saving impacts. There is an especially great need for organ donation within communities of color, and the more people learn about it, the more likely they are to be donors……The more diverse our organ donor registry, the more likely we will be able to find matches and save the lives of all those in need of a transplant.”
To become a donor, any Illinoisan can register with the Secretary of State’s Organ and Tissue Donor Registry by visiting LifeGoesOn.com, calling 800-210-2106, or by signing up at the DMV.
