Weekly Checkup

Minorities Underrepresented on Organ-Donor Registries

Roughly 90 percent of Americans support organ donation, yet less than half are currently signed up to be organ donors.[1] Organ donation outreach and awareness campaigns are helping raise the number of Americans registered as organ donors. For example, a program recently proposed by Apple Inc. would include a health app update for organ donor registration on iOS 10.

Demographically, those registered as organ donors mirror the racial make-up of the United States; however, because patients in need of a transplant are unlikely to find a good match outside their own ethnic group, it is more difficult for minority patients to find good donor matches. Full participation, especially among minority communities, can help save the lives of over 121,000 Americans currently awaiting organ and tissue transplants.[2]

 

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[1] http://www.organdonor.gov/about/data.html.

[2] http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/05/the-associated-press-apple-urges-organ-donation-via-new-iphone-software.html.

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