Earlier this summer, the Obama administration announced key actions to reduce the amount of time patients spend on the national organ transplant waiting list. There are currently more than 120,000 Americans waiting for organ transplants (over 80 percent are waiting for kidneys), while 22 people die each day waiting for a replacement organ. Furthermore, the need for transplant organs has increased nearly 600 percent since the early 90’s, while the total number of transplants has remained relatively constant.
The Obama administration has developed a three-pronged approach to address this growing need for organ transplants. First, the initiative seeks to encourage Americans to register as organ donors by partnering with social media organizations and Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls program to develop public advocacy campaigns surrounding organ donation. Second, the initiative sponsors research by top universities, organ transplant centers and medical institutions to improve the efficiency of organ donation. Finally, the administration has partnered with multiple foundations, medical societies and the U.S. Department of Defense, to contribute nearly $200 million dollars toward research in engineering replacement organs to bypass the need for organ donors entirely. Ultimately, this initiative engages more than 50 organizations across the country to achieve these aims.
Most organizations agree that increasing the number of registered organ donors is the quickest, most effective method to decrease the waiting period for organ transplants. Polls show that though more than 90 percent of U.S. citizens support organ donation, only 50 percent are registered donors. This disconnect is particularly apparent in Texas, which has the third lowest donor registration rate in the U.S., with less than 25 percent of the population registered as donors. In a recent push to increase registration rates in the state, Donate Life Texas partnered with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in 2009 to allow Texans to register as organ donors when they renew a driver’s license or state ID. This partnership alone resulted in a 25 percent increase in the number of registered organ donors between 2013 and 2014.
However, another challenge associated with organ donation is the pressing gap between the need and availability of donated organs amongst minority groups in Texas, where Hispanics make up roughly 30 percent of the population, but account for nearly 45 percent of patients on the organ waiting list. Though organs are not matched by race, matches occur more commonly between two people of the same race and ethnicity. This disproportionate need for transplants is mainly due to an increased prevalence of risk factors for kidney failure amongst Hispanics, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Though organ donation is not a solution to disparate health outcomes among racial groups in the U.S., promoting donor registration among racial minority groups would be a start toward addressing this gap.
Ultimately, the actions announced by the Obama administration should help increase organ donor registration in Texas; however, a particular emphasis should be made to address the gap between need and availability of donor organs amongst minority groups. The social media campaigns initiated by these key actions should be expanded to educate DMV and hospital workers about organ donations and to address concerns minority groups may have about organ donation. Together, the Obama administration’s key actions and an increased focus on organ donation among minority groups can help close the widening gap between the need and availability of donated organs in the U.S.
To become a registered organ donor in Texas, click here.
Samantha Paulsen is a Ph.D. candidate in bioengineering at Rice University and an intern in the Baker Institute Science and Technology Policy Program.