The Need for a Bone Marrow Registry in South Africa
Every year hundreds of South African children and adults with blood diseases such as leukemia and bone marrow failure, reach a stage where their only chance of surviving is a bone marrow transplant from a healthy donor.
In about 30% of cases, a matched donor can be found from within the patient’s own family, such as a brother or sister. For the other 70% of patients their only hope is to find a matched unrelated donor, identified through the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR).
Identifying a suitably matched bone marrow donor is a highly specialized process, with chances of finding a match being 1:100 000. Since its establishment, the SABMR has conducted searches to identify donors for 1,092 South African children and adults.
