• Clive O Callender and Patrice V Miles.
• Howard University, National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP), Washington, DC, USA.
• J. Am. Coll. Surg. 2010 May 1; 210 (5): 708717708-15, 715-7.

BackgroundIn 1978 in Washington, DC, we became aware of the scarcity of minority donors, especially African Americans.Study DesignFrom 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.ResultsBetween 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.ConclusionsThe 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.Copyright 2010 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

21 keywords...

hide…