National Minority Donor Awareness Month aims to save and heal lives

At this moment, about 106,000 people in the United States are waiting for an organ transplant, and well over half of those waiting for an organ represent racial and ethnic minorities, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

With the goal of saving and improving the quality of life of diverse communities by creating a positive culture for organ, eye and tissue donation, the National Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation Multicultural Action Group (NMAG) is celebrating National Minority Donor Awareness Month, a collaborative awareness initiative that kicked off Aug. 1. The American Kidney Fund (AKF) is proud to have joined NMAG earlier this year and is pleased to amplify efforts to bring heightened awareness to the impact of health disparities in organ donation and transplantation on communities of color.

The vast majority of people on the transplant waiting list are waiting for a kidney. A kidney transplant is considered the best treatment option for most people with kidney failure — which disproportionately impacts people of color — but Black patients are less likely than white patients to be placed on the transplant waiting list. Additionally, data shows that Black and Hispanic/Latino American people have disproportionately lower rates of receiving a living donor kidney transplant.

These disparities reinforce the need for educational efforts such as National Minority Donor Awareness Month. Throughout the month, we encourage people to share 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.

One of the NMAG-sponsored activities to promote healthy living is the 2022 Healthy Living Recipe Contest, which encourages people to share stories of donation and transplantation and promotes healthy recipes and tips.

As a member of NMAG, AKF is pleased to share this opportunity with our audience. Submissions must be a healthy, original recipe special to you, your family, heritage or journey and must include the story of your recipe, connection to donation and/or transplantation and photo of the dish and contestant.

More details including categories may be found on the NMAG website. Submissions will be accepted through Aug. 31. Winners will receive a $100 gift card and have their story and recipe featured by NMAG.

To learn more about National Minority Donor Awareness Month we encourage you to visit nmag1.org.

Register to be an organ, eye and tissue donor at your local DMV, in the National Donate Life Registry at RegisterMe.org or in your iPhone Health App.