The South African Bone Marrow Registry

Every year, hundreds of South Africans with blood diseases such as leukaemia reach the point where their only chance of survival is a bone marrow stem cell transplant. For about 30% of patients, a matched donor can be found in their own family; for the other 70%, their only hope is to find a matched unrelated donor identified by the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR). The SABMR was established in 1991, motivated by a global concern that although bone marrow transplants were a life-saving treatment option, they were only available to patients with a matching donor in their family. Today, the SABMR searches both locally and internationally for donors, thereby making collaboration with international registries and observing universal standards of practice essential. An internationally recognized registry, the SABMR is a member of the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) and is the only fully accredited unrelated stem cell donor registry in South Africa and Africa. The SABMR ...