Asian British Columbians less likely to be organ donors

Ongoing challenge with a number of communities given the need for donors. Similar pattern elsewhere in Canada and USA, although there are likely a few examples of successful campaigns within these communities:

BC Transplant doesn’t ask those who register as donors about their ethnic background. But it does record the ethnicity of actual donors.A University of B.C. study released last year found that the vast majority of organ donors in this province are white, despite the fact Asians make up a significant share of organ recipients.

The study looked at all deceased organ donations in B.C. from 2005 to 2009: a total of 182 donors and 765 recipients a single donor typically donates several organs.

Whites made up 89 per cent of donors but only 69 per cent of recipients.In contrast, East Asians Chinese, Japanese, Korean made up four per cent of donors and 12 per cent of recipients. And South Asians Indians, Pakistanis made up one per cent of donors and eight per cent of recipients.

Put another way, given their overall share of B.C.’s population, whites are three times more likely to be organ donors as East Asians and eight times as likely as South Asians.Last year’s study was a repeat of a similar study conducted in the 1990s, and showed little progress since then in organ donation by Asians, despite a concerted campaign by BC Transplant to reach out to them.

Possible reasons:

Yoshida has a few theories.

While no major religions prohibit organ donation, he said, some Asian families do place importance on the idea of burying their loved ones whole.

The language barrier between health professionals and a patient’s family may also play a role.

“When English is not a first language and you’re hearing things through a translator, maybe it doesn’t come out the way it should,” he said.

Gill said another factor may be immigrants’ level of trust in government.

“Organ donation is a tricky business,” he said. “There are myths that people are not going to have the best care because ‘the system wants to get their organs.’”

Asian British Columbians less likely to be organ donors with video.