Minority Organ Donation: The Power of an Educated Community
Presented at Southern Surgical Association 121st Annual Meeting, Hot Springs, VA, December 2009.
Received 8 February 2010; accepted 8 February 2010.
Background
In 1978 in Washington, DC, we became aware of the scarcity of minority donors, especially African Americans.
Study Design
From then until now, 4 decades later, we have been involved in a grass roots effort emphasizing community education and empowerment combined with the use of mass media, which has increased minority donation rates exponentially. This program was initiated with a $500 grant from Howard University and was subsequently funded by National Institutes of Health grants and other funding totaling more than $10 million between 1993 and 2008.
Results
Between 1990 and 2008, minority donations percentages have doubled (15% to 30%). African-American organ donors per million (ODM) have quadrupled from 8 ODM to 53 ODM between 1982 and 2008.
Conclusions
The investment of $10 million may seem substantial when we look at the cost-to-benefit ratio associated with the cost savings of $135,000 per donor. But it is small when compared with the more than $200 million saved by kidney donors alone, which is associated with the expected increase in the percentage of minority donors to 35% by 2010, or the equivalent of 1,750 minority donors.
Howard University, National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP), Washington, DC
Correspondence address: Clive O Callender, MD, FACS, National MOTTEP, 2041 Georgia Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20060
Disclosure Information: Nothing to disclose.
Grant support by: The National Institutes of Health –National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases – Grant #5R25DK50474-10.
ABSTRACT