More than 205,400 Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot volunteer bone marrow donors are registered with the Cyprus-based Karaiskakio Foundation, with over 1,000 donors from the registry having provided transplants to patients in 36 countries, the organisation said.
Marking this year's World Marrow Donor Day under the theme "Heroes of Hope", the foundation said the Cyprus registry remains the largest in the world relative to population and plays a key role in the international search for compatible donors for patients in Cyprus and abroad.
Growing demand for donors
The organisation said continued renewal and expansion of the registry remains essential, citing the genetic diversity of the Cypriot population and demographic changes that can affect the chances of finding a compatible unrelated donor.
It said the recruitment of new volunteers was critical to improving the likelihood that every patient in need of a transplant could find a suitable donor.
In a statement, the foundation said World Marrow Donor Day honours volunteers who join donor registries and, when identified as compatible matches, donate haematopoietic stem cells to patients suffering from serious blood disorders.
The Karaiskakio Foundation is participating in the 12th global World Marrow Donor Day campaign, recognising both donors who have already proceeded with a donation and those registered as volunteers in donor registries around the world.
The World Marrow Donor Association, representing more than 44 million volunteer donors across 60 countries, is using this year's campaign to highlight the importance of volunteer donors and international cooperation in identifying compatible matches.
Patients continue to benefit
According to the association, more than 70,000 patients each year search for a compatible donor outside their family, while around half of those who find a matching volunteer donor are matched with someone from another country.
The foundation said World Marrow Donor Day, established in 2015, has become an annual platform for donor registries, transplant centres, patients and volunteers worldwide to raise awareness of the importance of haematopoietic stem cell donation.
A member of the World Marrow Donor Association since 2000, the Karaiskakio Foundation received the organisation's accreditation in 2008, becoming one of the first donor registries globally to achieve the distinction, according to the foundation.
The organisation has designated September as "Leukaemia Month" and is holding a series of awareness campaigns focused on leukaemia and bone marrow donation.
Source: CNA
