By Ashley Gardner ¦ Texarkana Gazette

    Because they are statistically more prone to some diseases that affect organs, minorities are disproportionately represented on waiting lists for organ transplants.

    National Minority Donor Awareness Day, observed today, increases awareness of organ donation among black,Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, Alaskan Native and Native American populations.

    It’s not that minorities do not donate organs, said Pam Silvestri, public affairs director for the Southwest Transplant Alliance, the organ donation agency for this area, it’s that they are more likely to develop chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension.

    “The major issue is this. Many years ago in the organ donation community, our goal was to encourage minorities to donate at a rate that reflected their numbers in the population,” said Silvestri,“Those numbers have been surpassed so minorities do donate. The issue has become that minorities are overrepresented on the waiting list, especially for kidneys.”

    The result, she added, is that minority patients must wait longer for organs, especially kidneys.

    According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, blacks make up 13 percent of the U.S. population but 32 percent of patients awaiting a kidney transplant. Hispanics account for 12 percent of the population but 15 percent of the patients awaiting a kidney transplant.

    The importance of minority organ donations comes down to matching donors with recipients.

    “For hearts, livers and lungs, we use only blood type and body size for compatibility. Those are the only two things required to be compatible between the donor and recipient, said Silvestri.

    “For kidneys, we have to go a step further. For kidneys we have to actually match antigens, which are internal tissue types. Usually people with similar ethnic backgrounds will have similar antigens.”

    “So often, not every time, African-Americans waiting for a kidney transplant get the best match from another African—American and Hispanics will get the best match from another Hispanic person. For that reason we’re now trying to encourage minorities to donate at numbers that reflect their numbers on the waiting list rather than their numbers in the population,” said Silvestri.

    A way people can make sure their choice to be an organ donor is carried out is by registering at the Website Donate life. net and clicking on their state of residence.

    “The important message about the registry is if you take time to put your name on it, you make sure your wish to be a donor will be carried out and you take the burden off of your family trying to make that choice at a difficult time,” Silvestri said. “It makes sure you’re a donor if that’s what you want. Your family can’t overrule that anymore.”

FAST FACTS

     There are more than 102,000 people on the waiting list for an organ.

     From January to April 2009 there 9,347 transplants from only 4,744 donors as of July 28.

     Blacks are nearly four times more likely than Caucasians to develop kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant.

     Early kidney disease has no symptoms. If left undetected, it can progress to kidney failure with little or no warning.

     The most common causes of kidney failure are diabetes and high blood pressure, together accounting for about 70 percent of new cases.

     A national report card prepared by Donate Life America shows an increase of 9 million donor designations over the last 18 months, bringing the total number of registered donors in the United States to nearly 80 million.