Bone Marrow Donor Program Talk - 28 Feb 07

To: All Non-Chinese

In collaboration with the Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP), our school is embarking on a community service project, together with some students from SMU to help BMDP recruit potential donors from minority groups (Malays and Indians) and to raise awareness about the work of BMDP. This will increase the chances of finding a compatible donor for patients from minority groups who are in need of a bone marrow transplant.

Due to a lack of donors from minority ethnic groups in the local Bone Marrow Donor Registry, our focus is to help BMDP increase their donors’ pool in this area. BMDP has only 400,000 donors in Singapore with Malays and Indians each contributing to about 4% of the total figure. One common illness that requires a bone marrow transplant is Leukemia. The chance of finding a matching bone marrow within the same ethnic group is 1 out of 20,000, whereas it is an almost 0% chance of finding a match from a different ethnic group.

We aim to spread this awareness with a series of Donor Awareness and Recruitment Drive on 28 Feb 2007. Attendance will be taken. Booths will be setup at the road shows with stations mended by nurses to retrieve blood samples from potential donors on the same day. It is a prick on the finger requiring minimal blood.

Venue: AVA Projection Room
Time: 1 to 1.45pm (pls be punctual)

MsW