Community groups get £685,000 to boost Black and Asian blood and organ donations

Dozens of community groups have received £685,000 for initiatives to encourage more organs, blood and stem cell donation from within Black and Asian communities.

The Community Grants Programme, managed by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), distributed the funds to some fifty organisations which include the Sickle Cell Society, African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust, British Islamic Medical Association and more.

This comes amid all-time low shortages in these donations among ethnic minority groups which means that patients from these communities can have worse outcomes. People from the same ethnic background are more likely to be a match.

“It is important everyone has the best chance of receiving a potentially life-saving blood, organ or stem cell donation, regardless of their ethnic background and these organisations are helping to make a real difference,” Health Minister Neil O’Brien said.

“We’re investing to encourage and increase education about donation among Black and Asian communities.”

Previous research has shown that enabling grassroots organisations to champion organ, blood and stem cell donation in a culturally relevant way increases awareness and engagement, helping move towards greater health equality and a more diverse donor base.

Increased blood donations will provide lifesaving health benefits for many people, such as people with blood disorders like sickle cell disease -  the fastest-growing genetic condition in the UK.

In October, the NHS announced that a record number of Black blood donors were needed to treat the growing number of people in the UK affected by sickle cell disease and called on people to come forward because there is “more demand for care than ever before”.

Sickle cell is It is more prevalent in people from Black African or Black Caribbean backgrounds.

Black and Asian people also wait longer for organ transplants. People from Black, Asian, Mixed or ‘other minority ethnic backgrounds’ make up one-third of all people on the transplant waiting list, due to the difficulties of finding a match.

White patients have about 80-90 per cent chance of finding a stem cell match from a stranger, whereas Black, Asian and mixed-race people can only find a stem cell match from a stranger around 30-40 per cent of the time.

We Are Donors, a national network of university student groups working to raise awareness of organ and blood donation, is among the recipients of this government funding.

To raise awareness around organ donation, We Are Donors will be using their ten local groups across England and Wales to deliver educational talks and workshops to pupils aged 11-18 years in areas known to have higher proportion of people from Black African and Caribbean heritage.

To raise awareness for blood donation, their programme will be targeted towards Black African and Caribbean university students aged 18-25 and sessions will run at their nine established university groups based in England, aiming to educate, raise awareness and register new blood donors through focused educational events and talks.

Dr Charlotte Brathwaite-Shirley, Financial Lead and Trustee at We Are Donors, said: “ Our project aims to work with the young Black African and Caribbean population within schools and universities to provide education on the topics of organ and blood donation.

“We hope that this young population will drive future conversations regarding organ and blood donation.”

Altaf Kazi, Assistant Director, Partnerships and Community Engagement at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We have seen first-hand the abilities of trusted individuals and community groups to prompt conversation, tackle misinformation, educate, and offer reassurance around donation.

“Often a person’s best donor match will share their ethnicity, but too many donation opportunities are missed because families haven’t discussed organ donation, and Black and Asian people are seriously under-represented when it comes to donating blood and stem cells.

“We are really excited to work with these grassroots champions to address inequalities and help save more lives.”