Driven by the need to get more people to sign up as a potential marrow donor, our Donor Recruitment and Public Education team builds and manages a world class marrow donor register. Our team oversees awareness, recruitment, swab processing, donor engagement, public relations, stakeholder communication and fundraising activities. The team is driven by the charity’s mission of finding a donor for every patient and as a result, constantly strives to innovate and find new ways to reach out to the public.
One of the core roles of the team is marrow donor recruitment. Our team works through partnerships with educational institutions, corporate and public sector companies, religious and affiliated groups and shopping malls or through social media to promote further understanding on blood-related diseases, dispel myths, address concerns surrounding bone marrow donation and recruit marrow donors. The recruitment process is completed only when our swab processing function confirmed that the registration forms received from the donors are completed and meet BMDP’s eligibility guidelines. These swabs will then be coded and sent to a laboratory to be analysed and tested for Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) tissue markers and blood group which will be uploaded to the register and used in the matching process.
