News

Kidney Research UK’s team of Peer Educators, funded by the Big Lottery Fund, have been out in full force in the London area to encourage more people from the Asian community to sign up to the Organ Donor Register.

The two events, held to celebrate the key Hindu religious festival, Janamashtmi, which celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, took place in Hayes, Middlesex and the Hare Krishna Temple on 8th, 14th and 16th August, attracting an amazing 30 – 40,000 people!

Neerja Jain, ABLE Development Manager of Kidney Research UK said: ‘Of the 7,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant, over 1,000 of them are from an Asian background making the message of the Peer Educators vital to these communities. We are delighted that they are putting their training into practice so quickly and effectively. The response was great – the Peer Educators found that people were grateful to talk in full about the issues surrounding kidney disease with someone from their community and were keen to take as much information and leaflets away from the event as possible. Many people even signed up to the register on the day!’

Anjie Chapia is a middle aged lady who was educated in India and migrated from Kenya. As a health trainer for Harrow PCT she is a key role in her community and a keen Peer Educator. She said: ‘I am very grateful to be part of this innovative and worthy project to raise awareness of organ donation and the importance of kidney transplants in the Asian community. Through this project I am hoping to help raise awareness and break myths about organ donation.’

As a charity we are committed to developing and implementing better ways to achieve behavioural change and the Big Lottery Fund funding is allowing us to reach more audiences through the utilisation of this effective approach and we’re keen to work with more partners to allow us to reach more communities across the UK.