Support the treatment of Blood Cancer and Thalassemia patients

Annually about 120,000 Indians (more than 30% are children) living in India are diagnosed with blood cancer. About 10,000 children are born every year with Thalassemia. Across the world and in India cure rates with transplantation of unrelated bone marrow or cord blood derived stem cells for blood cancers and Thalassemia is in the range of 60% to 80%. For several thousands of these children, stem cell transplantation from a matching bone marrow donor or from umbilical cord blood is the only hope for cure. The chances of an Indian finding a match in international inventories is less than 10%, as DNA matching is highly ethnicity dependent and it costs over $ 45,000 to import a single unit.

Understanding the need, Jeevan set up a Public Cord Blood Bank from donated cord blood in 2008 to provide quick and affordable access to matching stem cells from donated umbilical cord. The chances of finding a match on an Indian inventory is over 60% and the cost will only be around $500. Currently, Jeevan, the largest active Public Cord Blood Bank in the SAARC Region has over 5400 units of stem cells fully typed and ready for transplant. Our immediate goal is to increase the stem cell inventory to 10,000 by March 2018.

Jeevan will provide the matching stem cells free, or at an affordable cost, to Indians suffering from blood cancer and Thalassemia.When the inventory and registry are scaled up, over 60% of Indian patients with blood cancer and Thalassemia will be able to find a match and thereby proceed with lifesaving treatment of stem cell transplant.