The Karaiskakeio Foundation has set the whole month of September as "Leukemia Month" by organizing a series of events, in order to inform and raise awareness of the general public about leukemia and bone marrow donation.
According to an announcement, the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA), representing 39 million volunteer donors from 55 different countries, announces the celebration of World Marrow Donor Volunteer Day (WMDA) for World Marrow donor day, WM this year on September 18, 2021.
As reported, the International Bone Marrow Donor Archives Association is a global voluntary organization of bone marrow donors and umbilical cord blood banks, with the goal of collaborating globally for a more efficient process of finding and providing allogeneic bone marrow transplants.
Due to the ongoing pandemic COVID-19, the International Association of Bone Marrow Donors Archives decided this year as well as the celebrations for the World Donor Day, to be done online. This year's online event will be a 24 hour live stream, where it will be broadcast on YouTube (https://youtu.be/lVwJp5hJDuM) on Saturday 18 September 2021. On every continent, patients and donors have prepared videos to participate in the celebration with the aim of raising public awareness and attracting even more donors around the world.
Since the first bone marrow transplant in 1956, more than one million patients worldwide have undergone a transplant. Every year, thousands of people are diagnosed with blood cancer. Bone marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant is a life-saving treatment for more than 70 different diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma and thalassemia.
The Karaiskakeio Foundation (KI), setting a dynamic vision "for a world full of childish smiles", tries and combines volunteerism and specialized scientific support, serving effectively and directly, the needs of patients with leukemia and other hematological malignancies. He has been a member of the WMDA since 2000 and is one of the first archives in the world to obtain accreditation from this organization in 2008.
It is noted that in Cyprus, due to the rich history of the country but also the frequent movements of the population, especially in the Mediterranean countries, there is a great genetic heterogeneity of the population, making it difficult to identify a non-related compatible donor. Also, the continuous low birth rate that characterizes our country, further reduces the chance of patients to find a compatible donor.
As mentioned, the file of K.I. with over 187000 registered bone marrow donors (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots) it is the largest in terms of population worldwide.
To date, 650 donors to the KI archive have offered transplants to patients from 33 different countries.
The goal of the Cyprus Donor Archive, it is added, is its constant renewal and upgrading, recording more and more voluntary bone marrow donors.