Recently, Be the Match and its senior vice president of member engagement, enrollment and experience, Erica Jensen, organized a drive to recruit blood stem cell donors. She was surprised when 500 students joined the registry, more than she had ever gotten at a university before.
Be the Match has formed partnerships with many universities and has completed more than 6,000 transplants as of 2021. Be the Match also works with Blue Cross Blue Shield to create donation drives. It works with a diverse number of organizations, sharing its story on social media and local news sites.
The difference in the chances of finding a donor for a white patient compared with a Black patient is significantly large. Statistics show that 79% of white patients find donors, while only 29% of Black patients do.
Be the Match has increased the chances of finding a donor for African American patients from 23% in 2021 to 29% as of 2022.
Jensen said this difference is largely because African communities don't trust the health care system. Be the Match is working on changing this percentage gap by connecting with the ethnic communities.
There are other obstacles to finding donors, she said.
The chance of one person being able to donate to another is very low. This is because people have their own unique DNA, which is connected to their ethnic background. The chances of a person being able to donate to a member of the same family is 30%.
Another problem is deliverability. After Be the Match finds a matched donor, it needs to get that person to agree to donate. The donor must undergo thorough physical exams, and the donating process itself.
