SABMR reaches out to people of colour
Less than 30% chance of being helped
"We may never call you to say you are a suitable donor for a patient, but we may also just call you," says Zaahier Isaacs, the head of patient services at the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) who is currently visiting Namibia.The Cancer Association of Namibia (CAN) recently announced that they will be joining forces with the SABMR to widen the donor pool.
Isaacs says it is vital for people of colour to become bone marrow donors.
"There are 42 million registered bone marrow donors worldwide and 70% of them are white, with only 30% being black, Asian, mixed race and Hispanic - this despite the fact that the latter group is the majority of the world population. When a white person walks in on me, there is a 78% chance that I can help them, but for people of colour it drops to 28%," he says.
"The majority of people in Namibia are people of colour and in many health-related incidents, people of colour are hit the hardest," says Kushi Tjiriange, a patient support officer at CAN.
Although bone marrow donations do not necessarily take place within the limits of racial boundaries, it is common that a donor and a patient will have a shared origin.
"There is a high chance that a donor and the patient will speak the same language, because we inherit Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) with racial lines," he says.
"People have migrated all over the world and mixed marriages have been forming for a very long time, so you never know what the chances are," says Isaacs.
In addition to diversifying the bone marrow donor registry, Isaacs also hopes to bust the myths surrounding bone marrow donation.
"We want to do away with the idea that we are drilling into bones. The process is very simplified and is almost painless - it's just a needle in your arm," says Isaacs, adding that the process of donating bone marrow can take between four and six hours.
Tjiriange says six Namibians have already received bone marrow donations with the support of the SABMR, and hopes that this number can increase not only in Namibia, but in Southern Africa. – [email protected]