Cord Blood Association
The link to the Zoom conversation between Cord Blood Association board members and umbilical cord blood bank representatives in Kyiv:
EBMT message
The EBMT is deeply concerned about the Russian invasion in #Ukraine and the impact that this is having on civilians and #patients in the affected regions. In line with EBMT’s mission, vision and values, and an overwhelming need to help, EBMT is committed to helping Ukraine's patients as part of the EBMT Ukrainian Crisis Assistance Program (UCAP).
The #EBMT Board has unanimously agreed to allocate funding for the UCAP, which will endeavor to support and care for Ukrainian transplant and #cellulartherapy candidates by linking EBMT transplant centres that can treat these patients.
Is your centre willing to volunteer its services and host patients requiring #HSCT and/or cellular therapy? Please get in touch with us ASAP!
Open letter from the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) to condemn the war
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in Ukraine and to ensure that health services can continue to provide care to all patients in need of a
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transplant -
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March
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3
Our community believes in collaboration, integration and democracy. Through acts of aggression by Russian military forces, we see these values being threatened and eroded. WMDA calls on all stakeholders to strongly condemn the violence, bombing, killings, and disruption to essential services resulting from this conflict.
WMDA asks that all parties respect international humanitarian law by ensuring swift and safe delivery of cellular products to all patients who need a transplant and to ensure access to care and medicinal products for patients needing complex transplant treatments, such as those with blood cancer.
We stand for our colleagues, friends, families, donors and patients impacted by this tragedy and we continue to support our support all of our members during this difficult time.
EUPHA statement: Health is at stake in the Ukraine invasion - February 25
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EUPHA unreservedly condemns the invasion of Ukraine by armed forces. As a public health organisation, it notes that the invasion poses important threats to health in the immediate future and the longer term:
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EUPHA further stands in solidarity with its member associations in countries that may also face future threats from external aggression, and especially those in the Baltic states.
Joint Statement on behalf of American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, EBMT and WBMT - March 3
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The American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT), European Society for Blood Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), and Worldwide Network for Blood Marrow Transplantation (WBMT) firmly condemns the war started by Russian military forces in Ukraine. In particular, ASTCT, EBMT, and WBMT request that peace negotiations prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable Ukrainian people. Casualties among innocent civilians increase by the minute, including children. Patients with severe conditions, such as those with cancer or undergoing life-saving transplants, are currently affected by lack of medications and medical supplies, limited ability to travel to hospitals, lack of adequate nutrition. Healthcare providers and hospital staff in Kyiv remain in their hospitals to treat the patients in shelters, while bombs continue to hit the city.
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ASTCT, EBMT, and WBMT expresses its solidarity to all the Ukrainian healthcare providers, friends and supporters worldwide, and hopes all the states currently engaged in wars will agree on the value of dialogue and peace that should not have borders.
WHO Update
- WHO Office on Ukraine has set up the Incident Management Team and is providing support to the country’s Ministry of Health and leading the international Health Cluster’s work for humanitarian emergencies. See the statement of the Head of WHO Country Office Dr Jarno HABICHT: https://www.facebook.com/WHOEurope/videos/489433626097431
- Radiation and Health Unit at the WHO Headquarters is providing technical support on matters related to radiation safety.
The statement of WHO DG on Ukraine crisis can be read here: https://www.who.int/news/item/24-02-2022-who-director-general-deeply-concerned-over-escalating-health-crisis-in-ukraine
The statement of IAEA DG : https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-director-general-statement-on-the-situation-in-ukraine
How you can help
- Here is the link for donating to UNICEF: https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/conflict-ukraine-pose-immediate-threat-children
- Here is the link for donating to Red Cross Ukraine: https://www.icrc.org/en/donate/ukraine
Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues and friends in Ukraine, we hope this conflict will end as soon as possible with minimal casualties. Find below updates from the registries in the region impacted.
Update Ukrainian Bone Marrow Registry
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- 2020: 4 transplants
- 2021: 16 transplants
- 2022: 8 transplants (January/February) → patients transferred to Poland with the support of DKMS Polska
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Do you need support to transport cells?
You can reach out to the WMDA International Emergency Task Force, contact them here: https://share.wmda.info/x/PqKbEw
Please find an overview of the contact details of WMDA member organisations below:
Prepare your registry for internet connection failure, and print the list with the contact details of WMDA member organisations. Find the overview here.
Message from the Ukrainian Bone Marrow Registry - March 4
Today russia attacked with bombs the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The largest one in Europe. We refer to all bone marrow registers in the world.
- Appeal to your governments and your people to support Ukraine in the war with Russia.
- Ask which of your transplant centres can take Ukrainian patients (priority children) for free bone marrow transplantation so that we understand where they can go. Ukraine's transplant program has been stopped due to Russia's military attack on Ukraine.
- Help financially, the money will be spent on revitalizing of Ukrainian bone marrow registry after the war, in extreme cases, on humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
- If you see an opportunity to help the Bone Marrow registry in Ukraine with something else, please contact us - we are open and thank you for any help.
ubmdregistry@gmail.com
Message from DKMS Polska - March 3
Help for oncological children from Ukraine. 🇺🇦 #SolidarnizUkrainą
We supported the initiative of the Polish Society of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, organizing medical transport for sick children from Ukraine so that they could continue treatment in Poland. Thanks to the great commitment of Professor Wojciech Młynarski, numerous patient organizations from Polish and Ukraine and our foundation, on the night of March 1, two small oncological patients went to the Department of Pediatrics, Oncology, Hematology and Diabetology of the Medical University of Łódź. A disabled 6-year-old girl and her mother, who fled Kharkov before the war, are temporarily accommodated in a private apartment. Two more children with cancer were transported to clinics in Lublin and Krakow yesterday. Further transports for children requiring specialist medical assistance during the border– hospital route are in preparation.
"The current situation in Ukraine required quick action to help small oncological patients and transport them to Polish hospitals where they will receive medical assistance. In cooperation with Professor Wojciech Młynarski, we managed to organize the first medical transports tailored to their needs. Help has no borders – this slogan has been with us since the beginning of our activity, and in recent days it has gained special importance." – says Ewa Magnucka-Bowkiewicz, President of the DKMS Foundation.
The Polish Society of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology has launched a hotline for doctors and parents from Ukraine (also in Ukrainian) regarding the possibility of treating children in Poland.
If you have information about a patient in need of help, please contact us via: 📧 sekretariat@ptohd.pl and telephone numbers: 📞 Polish /English – 887 662 886, Ukrainian – 887 669 934.
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Wednesday, March 2: We want to ask about an open letter from WMDA. We don't see words here such as Russia. What stakeholders do you mean in this open letter - there is only one stakeholder -the russian government with putin which can stop the war in Ukraine! We compare the silence of people, especially russians, and russian bone marrow registries with the support for the putin regime. Who can stop their crazy dictatorial president instead of people who have elected him. Nevertheless, they are silent. What difficulties do we have? - We have a war. russians have come to our homeland to kill us, destroy our infrastructure, shoot at emergency, kinder-gardens, and of course schools - Doctors are conducting family transplants under the explosion of russian bombs outside the window. They heroically risk their own lives. - We can't deliver cells for unrelated transplantation to patients for well-known reasons, although we have bomb shelters and basements that have become housing for Ukrainians - Patients become hostages to the situation and their situation is particularly difficult and alarming - Our problem is crazy putin with a rusiian government and his military forces who made the invasion to the foreign land, to the Independent Country. - Our problem is when people say we are not in politics. Sorry, this is not about politics at all. There is a murderer - russia - who kills peaceful people, who kills us, Ukrainians. And there are neighbors who are watching but still remain silent. Nazism is born in silence. We don't understand how in the 21st century you can come to someone's house and kill people. But even more we do not understand how you can see it and be silent.
How can russian bone marrow donor registries name themselves a live-saving organisation after that? We have more than 2000 civilian deaths today - adults and children, is it not enough to break a silence?
Thank you. Hope for understanding.
From Ukraine, Roman and Julia Kuts
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Saturday, February 26: Our dear friend and partner, World Marrow Donor Registry, As you have probably seen, Ukraine is suffering from the clutches of Russia, which attacked our country 8 years ago and officially declared war on February 24, 2022. The Russian military is conducting terrible unhuman offensives throughout the whole territory of sovereign independent State. The airstrikes have been carried out in most major cities of Ukraine. Russia is attacking us with tanks, warships, planes and other military equipment and lethal weapons. The Russian military is shelling our cities from aircraft and missiles and has already carried out two airstrikes on peaceful apartment buildings in Kyiv. There are victims even among small children! However, our free people will defend their Motherland until their last breath. Due to the military actions of the aggressor, unfortunately, we are unable to deliver the hematopoietic stem cells that are extremely necessary for our patients to defeat blood cancer. On February 23, a courier from Germany delivered donor cells for TCM to the city of Kyiv. And, on February 24, 2022, Russia attacked us. The courier could not fly home from Kyiv, because airports had been already closed. Together with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, we helped the courier to reach the western border of Ukraine safely. Unfortunately, the courier has not yet been able to leave Ukraine. However, he is safe, on the border with the European Union. We know that this young German man is shocked by what he has seen during the three days, spent in UKRAINE. We have a war. The peace-loving Ukrainian people now are forced to live in military conditions. Ukrainian children are born in bomb shelters and basements. In Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Lviv, doctors continue to perform transplants from family donors in hospital wards under the fire of Russian missile shelling. Doctors are simply made to live in hospitals together with their families and young children. The 8 bone marrow transplants from unrelated donors, which have been planned to be performed in March, have to be canceled because we will not be able to ensure the delivery of donor cells to clinics. For many of our young and adult patients, this forced cancellation is tantamount to death. RUSSIA = aggressor, invader, and terrorist, who attacked another peaceful country in the middle of Europe. The whole civilized world condemns their actions. We will be grateful for your official position on condemning Russia's actions. We are also sorry that our colleagues from the Russian registers are silent. It is not possible to simultaneously fight for the salvation of lives and, at the same time, stay loyal through the silence of innocent people’s mass murders in other countries. The silence of each of us now means support for Putin's actions.World condemnation of Russia is very important for our people, for our Motherland Ukraine. God be with us!
Update Karelian Bone Marrow Donor Registry
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- If Russia is disconnected from the Internet I am afraid that we will't be able to receive e-mail and use WMDA-Search. However we will be able to perform donor search requests and exchange information on them using a fax (we saved it).
- If air communication with Russia (including cargo) is completely stopped we will't be able to send blood samples for VT. However we will be able to perform VT+IDM tests in Russia and provide results.
- If air communication with Russia is completely cut off we will't be able to send the donor's HSC by air, but in this case we can offer shipment by car (one of our collection centers is located in St. Petersburg and courier may get to Helsinki by car for 6-8 hours). In this case, Helsinki can be considered as the main hub for sending PBS to other countries.I should draw your attention to the fact that I have listed possible scenarios for solving problems in case the situation develops unfavorably. But maybe the restrictions will stop at some current point.In any case for each request our registry will decide individually based on the situation at that point in time.
Unfortunately I can't say anything about the needs and difficulties of Russian transplant centers because they don't come to us with requests regarding donors from abroad. Perhaps my colleagues from other Russian registers have more information about this.
I think we need help with two things. First, it is important for us to preserve the Internet. I'm not sure that the Russian analogue of the network (there were talks about it several years ago) will be acceptable for our activities. Secondly, it is important for us to maintain air communication (passenger and cargo) with other countries or at least some of them. I think that I do not have the opportunity to solve these problems and I would be grateful if you and WMDA could help us (of course, if it is possible in the current conditions). And I know that the Ukrainian register has very difficult situation now. We are ready to help to the best of our ability if possible and acceptable to them. I would be grateful if you pass this to Ukrainian colleagues.
I thought that if Russia is disconnected from the Internet access to WMDA-Search will disappear not only for us, but also for other Russian registries and transplant clinics (as far as I know, Russian transplant clinics are independently looking for donors in WMDA-Search). In this case we will not be able to send files with donor's data to WMDA. However there is an option on our website to search donors http://bmdonego.ru/#search. Now this search resours is in Russian (we did not plan to make English
version, because its users are doctors from Russia ), but we will try to translate it into English. Therefore in the worst case scenario this option can be used.
Update Kirov Research Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (KRIHBT)
- Diseases that require bone marrow transplantation do not know borders and nationalities.
- We continue to work as usual and process all requests in a timely manner. Our donors continue to be available to patients all over the world. Just like during the pandemic COVID-19, we can use Istanbul as a hub for transporting cell products.
Update National Bone Marrow Donors Registry named after Vasya Perevoshchikov
The world is changing, it is true. We will be do everything for the patients. We hope work with you and the community for all patients in the world. I hope the delivery way through Istanbul will be available. And China will do flights through the world. And all patients in the world who need the transplant will receive it. We prepare the letter for the WMDA with Karelian registry. We will send it you soon.
Update HPC Registry
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