Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation - Donor Registration and Recruitment

Donor Registration and Recruitment

At the end of 2010, 14.9 million people had registered their willingness to be a bone marrow donor with one of the 64 registries from 45 countries participating in Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide. 12.2 million of these registered donors had been ABDR typed, allowing easy matching. A further 453,000 cord blood units had been received by one of 44 cord blood units from 26 countries participating. The highest total number of bone marrow donors registered were those from the USA (6.4 million), and the highest number per capita were those from Cyprus (10.6% of the population).

Within the United States, racial minority groups are the least likely to be registered and therefore the least likely to find a potentially life-saving match. In 1990, only six African-Americans were able to find a bone marrow match, and all six had common European genetic signatures.

Africans are more genetically diverse than people of European descent, which means that more registrations are needed to find a match. Bone marrow and cord blood banks exist in South Africa, and a new program is beginning in Nigeria.