Professor Gurch Ranhawa is professor of diversity in public health and director of the Institute for Health Research at the university and he has written a paper for the foundation called  'Achieving equality in organ donation and transplantation in the UK  - Challenges and solutions'.

The Race Equality Foundation seeks to explore what is known about discrimination and to use this evidence to develop interventions that overcome barriers and promote race equality in health, housing and social care.

It regularly publishes Better Health briefing papers which are written by experts to provide the latest evidence on the health experiences of black and minority ethnic communities.

Professor Randhawa s briefing will be released to help raise awareness during National Transplant Week which runs until Sunday.

He said:  Recent research I ve undertaken highlights that South Asian people are three times more likely to need a kidney transplant than the general population. Almost 1,800 need a transplant, and their chances of success are greater if they can be matched with a donor from the same ethnic origin.

 But with South Asian people accounting for fewer than two per cent of deceased donors, transplant patients from these communities typically wait twice as long as others for a suitable donor to become available. Last year, almost 60 black and Asian patients died while waiting.

 The Race Equality Foundation works really hard to highlight discrimination and inequality and I am delighted to be able to contribute in overcoming these barriers. National Transplant Week is the ideal opportunity to draw attention to the challenges of achieving equality in organ transplantation.

If you want to find out more about organ donation visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk