Since Japanese families today have a smaller number of children, the possibility of finding a matching donor within the family is only 20〜30%. That is why "the public donor bank" was established: to encourage volunteer donors nationwide and to match donors and patients more easily. To date, more than 1,000 donors have donated their bone marrow. It is very rare when a volunteer donor finds a matching patient and can then offer his or her marrow. It could indeed be the chance of a lifetime.

The Japan Marrow Donor Program is a public institution managed by the Japan Marrow Donor Foundation. It is supported by the government (the Ministry of Health and Welfare), in cooperation with the Japanese Red Cross and local governments.

The Orgsnization of Japan Marrow Donor Program

International Cooperation

There are about 40 bone marrow banks in the world. In order to help patients that can't find a matching donor in their own country each country, cooperates internationally exchanging HLA data or providing bone marrow when a suitable match is found.

*The number of registered donors in the world (as of 2/1997)
USA 2,000,000, Canada 140,000, Britain 280,000, Germany 740,000, France 80,000, Italy 170,000, Australia and New Zealand 100,000, Taiwan 140,000, Hong Kong 20,000, Korea 20,000 and so on.