Program aims to increase organ donations among Blacks.

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Author: Cabrera, Claudio E.1

Nearly 25 percent of people who died last year waiting for an organ transplant were Black.

These startling numbers caught the attention of Linkages to Life, a program that raises awareness concerning organ donations among Blacks. Black people suffer higher rates of diseases that damage the liver and kidneys.

The Linkages to Life program is in its fourth year, and conducted by The Links, Inc., the largest African American women's service organization, and Roche, a pharmaceutical company.

Last week, the program visited sixty churches in the country. In the past, the main objective was to ask churchgoers to sign organ donor cards, but the program now hopes people will go home and educate their families on the issue.

A national survey released on November 3 detailed how a family discussion about organ donation is often overlooked, with more than eighty percent of African Americans unaware of the importance of speaking to their loved ones about their wish to become a donor.

"If everyone who wanted to be a donor shared that wish with his or her family, we could save thousands more people every year through organ donation," said Victoria Dent, Linkages to Life program chair.

Blacks comprise 18 percent of U.S. organ recipients, while whites comprise 63 percent, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Only 12 percent of organ donors are Black, according to Linkages.

Minorities are also three times more likely than whites to have kidney failure and account for over half of the 56,500 Americans waiting for kidney transplants. But they are less likely than whites to find a good genetic match and spend more time on the waiting list.

Links Incorporated and Roche distributed conversation starter guides at churches across the country on National Donor Sabbath Day, November 13th. The group has also produced a public service announcement campaign highlighting the steps it takes to become a donor.

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By Claudio E. Cabrera, Special to the AmNews