More ethnically diverse bone marrow donors needed to save lives
10 Apr 2021
Too monochrome: The world’s pool of bone marrow donations are kept in cold storage vaults such as this one in Dresden, Germany. (Robert Michael/Picture Alliance)
A lack of ethnic diversity among donors, coupled with cultural myths, have led to a paucity of bone marrow donors, resulting in hundreds of avoidable deaths caused by leukaemia and other blood-related diseases.
According to Jane Ward, the deputy director of the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR), the lack of sufficient education to counter cultural beliefs, especially among black South Africans, contributes to donor resistance. A common myth is that regenerative stem cells are somehow body parts and cannot be parted with.