The SA Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) will be able to substantially increase their efforts aimed at recruiting blood stem cell donors in South Africa, thanks to a partnership with Be The Match© – a leading NGO in bone marrow transplantation.
Jane Ward, deputy director for the SABMR, said the partnership will significantly improve donor recruitment and retention over the next two years.
“Be The Match© is the world’s largest and most diverse registry of blood stem cell donors.
“It is the hub of a global transplant network that connects 467 leading centres worldwide, including 153 transplant centres in the US and 34 international transplant centres.
“The organisation seeks to partner with likeminded registries by not only making funding available, but to improve the operational structure of registries in third world countries, which will strengthen our ability to help patients with life-threatening blood disorders,” said Ward.
Be The Match© chose the SABMR as its South African partner, as it is an internationally recognised registry and fully accredited by the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA).
It is also the registry with the highest number of donors in South Africa and has been operating successfully for over 30 years.
Erica Jensen, senior vice-president of member engagement, enrolment and experience at Be The Match©, said it was a privilege to work with an organisation such as the SABMR that cares about saving lives as they do.
“All the centres in our network must meet our quality standards, which are put in place to make sure donors and patients receive the highest quality care, and the SAMBR ticks all the boxes.
“As the recognised leader in marrow transplantation, we continue to develop services and interactive technologies used by transplant experts around the world to reach more patients.
“We also continue to lead the way in advancing services to speed the transplant process and improving treatments for post-transplant complications.
“By partnering with the SABMR it will help us to further cement our commitment to fighting for equal outcomes for all and ensure more lives are saved,” said Jensen.
Ward added that the partnership will help the SABMR to:
• Gain access to global best practice through knowledge-sharing and benchmarking.
• Improve internal systems that will lead to exponential growth in donor applications, especially among those of colour.
• Access to other international registries for learning and development.
• Speed up the process of matching donors with patients in need of transplants.
“The pandemic has significantly changed the socio-economic environment in which we operate, making fund-raising very difficult. We’ve had to change tack and innovate along the way.
“Our team has worked hard to make the collaboration with Be The Match© a reality and its sure to pay dividends. The partnership with
Be The Match© will help us to turn the crisis into an opportunity. We are and have always been in the business of saving lives and will not let the pandemic slow us down,” said Ward.
The SABMR has about 74 000 donors on its database, which is roughly about 0.2 per cent of SA’s population.
Ward said their aim is to increase this exponentially by the end of 2022.
“The bigger the donor pool, the better the odds of finding a match.”
Residents who want to become a donor or would like to make a financial donation to the SABMR can contact 021 447 8638 or visit https://sabmr.co.za/
Follow the SABMR on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @sabonemreg
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Marietta Lombard (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za, or (Journalists) Busi Vilakazi busiv@caxton.co.za , and Lebogang Sekgwama lebogangs@caxton.co.za.
