National Minority Donor Awareness Week

National Minority Donor Awareness Week is a date that honors minorities who have been organ, eye and tissue donors. It also offers encouragement to those who have registered as donors to take better care of their health in order to reduce the number needing a transplant.

The United States has a need for minority donors as minorities make up 58% of those currently on an organ transplant waiting list. Of all those needing transplants in the U.S. in 2014 about 42% of them were minorities. Kidney transplants topped the list. There are over 3,000 individuals that are African American that are currently awaiting kidney transplants. The HHS states that African Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders and Hispanics / Latinos are three times more likely than Caucasians to suffer from end stage renal (kidney) disease. The reasoning is behind the high blood pressure and other conditions that damage kidneys.


Organ transplant candidates are not matched based on race / ethnicity. However, transplant matches made within ethnic groups can be more compatible. People in minority communities should register as an organ, eye, and tissue donors and then share the decision with their family.