Beats x Beers has partnered with the Detroit Mottep Foundation to bring awareness to organ donation and how it it effects the African American community.

ABOUT DETROIT MOTTEP:

African Americans, the population once thought to be among the most resistant to donating organs, today represent the nation’s lead donating population, according to new research from renowned Howard University transplant surgeon Dr. Clive O. Callender.

Founded by Dr. Callender, the organization has been aggressively striving to help solve the number one nation-wide problem in transplantation – the shortage of donors. The first and only organization of its kind, MOTTEP has educated communities worldwide on minority organ donation and healthy lifestyles that can prevent the need for transplants.

“Since MOTTEP began, minority donor rates have doubled,” Dr. Callender said. “Through a community grass-roots approach and the use of multimedia we found the solution to the shortage problem. The community is the most potent change agent. Continued support will keep our work going for another 25 years, and then some.”

​Minorities have had a history of being reluctant to donate due to multiple factors: lack of awareness, religious beliefs, medical distrust, fear of premature death and racism. Data on the growth in African American donation rates were analyzed from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) statistics.

Based on the latest available data from UNOS, African Americans now rank as the number one ethnic group in reference to organ donors per million. In 2010, African-American organ donors per million totaled 35.36 while the results in other ethnic groups are: White (27.07), Hispanic (25.59), and Asian (14.70) populations. Blacks now represent 17 percent of the donor population, while representing 13 percent of the total U.S. population.

There are more than 120,000 people on the national transplant waiting list, more than half representing minorities. Dr. Callender said it was critical that the methodology of the community grass-roots approach be expanded to reach all minority and majority communities across the United States