Conference held to develop messages and promote organ donation

A group photo of attendees from the messaging conference A conference organised by the National Black, Asian, Mixed Race, and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance (NBTA) and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) took place in June 2024 to address low organ donation rates among minority ethnic communities in the UK. The conference aimed to develop culturally and religiously sensitive messaging to promote organ donation within these communities by engaging faith leaders and organisations.

The conference focused on many areas for improvement in messaging and community engagement. The report that followed the event sets the groundwork for ongoing community engagement and evaluation, with the ultimate goal of fostering more equitable healthcare outcomes.

What did the conference aim to achieve?

The conference's aims were to:

engage faith leaders and organisations to develop impactful messaging for their communities.
share data and research on organ donation rates and attitudes toward donation.
develop and discuss messaging for awareness campaigns.
identify resources needed, such as videos and leaflets, to support the new messages.
initiate actions and evaluations, starting with Organ Donation Week 2024.

The conference saw presentations on organ donation statistics and attitudes. There were faith-based discussion groups that worked together and identified barriers and enablers to donation and proposed tailored messaging strategies to their audiences.

NHSBT and the NBTA, along with the Race Equality Commission, will continue to work together and have established a Messaging Conference Implementation Group which will take forward the actions arising from the Conference. NBTA and NHSBT remain committed to bridging the gap in organ donation rates and providing ongoing support to faith and minority ethnic communities in the future.

Download the report which followed the conference (PDF 9.7MB)