South Africa is experiencing a growing number of young people who are prepared to donate blood stem cells to save the lives of blood cancer patients.
South Africans commemorated National Cancer Survivors Day on June 7 with thousands of blood cancer patients feeling hopeful due to an increasing number of local young people ready to donate the life-saving blood stem cells.
The Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei (DKMS), which has its headquarters in Germany but operates in Africa, has found that there are more than 33,000 young South Africans between the ages of 17 and 25 coming forward to register on the blood stem cells database up to 2026.
DKMS Africa does not have a definite number of blood cancer patients in South Africa, but its internal statistics indicate there are more than 250,000 of them and blood cancer accounts for 7% of all new cancer cases diagnosed in South Africa.
It said every hour someone in South Africa is diagnosed with a blood cancer or disorder.
