African Americans are twice as likely as other nationalities to succumb to illnesses related to the lack of available organ donations, according to a recently released study by a Virginia-based organization dedicated to making life-saving organ transplants a viable option for all.

Donate Life America, in Richmond, announced their findings earlier this year, but re-released their study last week in observance of National Minority Donor Awareness Day on August 1. The comprehensive study shows that as of earlier this year, more than 49,000 minorities (mostly African Americans) were on a transplant waiting list. Nearly 100,000 individuals in total are on the list to receive the life-saving transplants. Blacks and Hispanics account for more than half of people on the national waiting lists for heart and kidney transplants, according to the study.

“Every year there are over 28,000 donors of all ethnic backgrounds and races who save the lives of thousands of people and provide tissue for over a million people,” said David Fleming, executive director of Donate Life America. “Making a decision to be an organ-, eye- and tissue-donor will help make thousand of lives that would otherwise be lost.”

In a release to the media, Fleming stated that while minorities only comprise 20 percent of the total population of the United States, they make up 51 percent of the national transplant waiting list. Fleming and others also noted that the disproportionate figures of African Americans on the list are related to diseases that cause the need for transplants – diabetes, hypertension and other health issues – that are more prevalent in Blacks than other ethnicities.

To find out how to become an organ donor in New York and New Jersey, visit http://www.donatelife.net.