Living Kidney Donation exhibition through art
(SAMAJ WEEKLY)- An exhibition was launched by the Centre for Ethnic Health Research on Wednesday 26th June at 4:30pm in a busy Haymarket Shopping Centre in central Leicester.
The aim of the project/exhibition was to reach out to people with Kidney failure who were waiting for a transplant or who had received a kidney as well as their families and friends to raise awareness of Living Kidney donation.
The project was initiated with the support of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) Community Investment Scheme, the Centre for Ethnic Health Research (CEHR)together with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands (ARC-EM). An online exhibition was launched last year titled ‘The Gift – increasing awareness of living kidney donation through art’. People living with and affected by kidney disease were asked to send in pieces of art including paintings, poems, drawings and other creative activities that depicted personal stories and experiences of kidney disease. The project mainly targeted South Asian, African and African Caribbean communities.
On Wednesday 26th, all contributors to the project were invited and the exhibition was launched to the public to view the artwork and to read their stories of their struggles living with kidney failure. Most contributors attended the event, which started with a presentation from Dr Tom Wilkinson, lead for the study. The event was introduced by Gurpreet Kaur, Community Engagement Officer for CEHR, who also worked on the study by engaging with the various groups and individuals in the community and to include them in this study. This was also a thank you event for everyone involved in this study, a buffet meal was served after the presentations.
A lot of people said they found strength from their faith, family and through doing artwork or other mindful activities.
The exhibition stayed in the Haymarket shopping Centre until 29th June for general members of the public to view it.
Background:
In the UK, people from the ethnic minority groups have a greater risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Kidney failure is up to 5 times more common in minority ethnic groups. Additionally, ethnic minorities are more likely to need a transplant, but they are less likely to receive one due to a shortage of donors. These groups wait approximately 6-12 months longer for a kidney transplant, at which time they may need life-saving dialysis treatment. 1 in 15 people from ethnic minority groups die waiting for a kidney transplant. Initiatives to increase awareness of CKD and living kidney donation are greatly needed.
Based on survey data, feedback from visitors to the site say it improved their knowledge of kidney donation and that it “encouraged (them) to think about donating”. Visitors liked the “personal quotations that went with the examples of art, showing spiritual insight into the nature of the gift of a kidney”.
Initiatives from NHSBT have improved engagement with kidney donation. The latest figures published by NHSBT showed that there was an increase of 6% in living donors. The report also highlighted a considerable rise in the proportion of opt-in registrations from ethnic minority groups on the NHS Organ Donor Register over the past five years. In 2022/2023, 11.7% of people who registered in support of organ donation and declared their ethnicity were from ethnic minorities, an increase from 7.1% in 2018/19.
