PRESS RELEASES

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Press Release - Organ Donation Awareness Project

Black Asian and Minority ethnic community groups in Milton Keynes and adjacent counties encouraged to join Organ Donation register and speak to their families about their decision

Equality Council UK (ECUK) has been awarded funding by NHS Blood and Transplant Community Investment Scheme to give reliable information to people from Black, Asian, mixed heritage and other minority ethnic backgrounds in Milton Keynes and adjacent counties, so they can make informed decisions about organ donation and be encouraged to become organ donors. This will help to tackle some of the health inequalities affecting people from these backgrounds.

An increasing number of individuals from Black, Asian and minority ethnic community groups require organ transplants. However, waiting times for these people are longer because of a shortage of donors from these groups. They comprise 35% of the waiting list but only 7% of donors. Increasing the number of ethnically matched organs will decrease waiting times and lead to better health outcomes for people from ethnic minorities.

The project involves the recruitment of Community Engagement Ambassadors (CEAs) from community and faith groups in Milton Keynes, providing them with a basic induction to organ donation and supporting them to recruit individuals from their community/faith groups to attend a ZOOM workshop to obtain more information on organ donation particularly the recent changes in legislation.

The organ donation law often referred to as Max and Keira’s law came into effect in England on 20 May 2020. Since then people in England are considered willing to donate, unless they have opted out, are in one of the excluded groups or have told their family they do not wish to donate. Even though the law has now changed, it is important to know that people still have a choice and families will still be consulted if organ donation becomes a possibility.

It is hoped that engaging Black, Asian and other minority ethnic communities and providing them with up-to-date information on organ donation will lead to the recruitment of more donors from these communities as clinical data shows that ethnically matched blood and organs provide the best treatment.

ECUK has already recruited CEAs for this project and working with them to plan and deliver awareness workshops during the period August to December 2021.

These workshops will be delivered to the following community/faith groups:

Arabic (mainly Iranian)

Bengali

Caribbean

Hindu

Sikh

Somali

Tamil

West African (Nigerian, Sierra Leone)

Any other minority community/faith group who wishes to participate should contact:

Navrita Atwal

Chief Executive