Saudi Arabia has announced that it is the first country in the Arab world to reach 10,000 donors of stem cells. The King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC) made the announcement recently, suggesting that the milestone was reached thanks to a public awareness campaign that highlighted the regenerative potential of stem cells.
The donors of stem cells play a very important role in helping to treat people with many incurable diseases including various forms of cancer, blood disorders, immune disorders and metabolic disorders.
Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW) and the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) also announced that 25 million people worldwide are now listed as bone marrow stem cell donors. Having a huge number of people registered with their donor databases makes it much easier to find bone marrow matches.
One of the initiatives that helped the WMDA reach this milestone is their “World Marrow Donor Day,” held annually on the third Saturday of September. It helps to raise awareness about stem cell donation.
KAIMRC aims to provide a scientific environment that encourages the clinical research of stem cells. They established the Saudi Arabian’s national bone marrow donor registry in 2011. Its goals were to provide relevant data to patients with relevant diseases and to facilitate stem cell therapy.
A bone marrow stem cell transplant involves transferring Haematological Stem Cells (HSCs) into a patient to renew their body’s ability to produce healthy blood cells. The stem cells can come from a person’s own body (called an autologous transplant) or from another person who must be a compatible donor (called an allogeneic transplant).
HSCs are usually gathered from bone marrow or umbilical cord blood and are used to treat nearly 70 different diseases including leukaemia, lymphoma, aplastic anaemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and inherited immune deficiency,
Source: KSA First in Arab World to Have Over 10,000 Stem Cell Donors
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