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Open letter from the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) to condemn the war in Eastern Europe and to ensure that health services can continue to provide care to all patients in need of a transplant - 2 March 2022

Our community believes in collaboration, integration and democracy. Through acts of aggression, 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 members during this difficult time.

EUPHA statement: Health is at stake in the Ukraine invasion - 25 February 2022

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:

  1. a) As set out in the 1986 Ottawa Charter, peace is the first prerequisite for health. The invasion has already led to unnecessary deaths among the Ukrainian people and the invading forces, including an attack on a hospital, a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions;
  2. b) The invasion, with the inevitable displacement of people, destruction of infrastructure, and disruption of trade will have severe economic consequences for the people of Ukraine, many of whom have been living precarious lives, with obvious implications for their health;
  3. c) The invasion is a clear threat to the democratically elected government of Ukraine. The democratic process is a means by which the health needs of a population can be turned into policies, with clear evidence that it contributes positively to health.

Furthermore, EUPHA notes:

  1. a) the repeated efforts by the Ukrainian government and by western leaders to prevent this act of unprovoked aggression;
  2. b) the right, under Article 51 of the UN Charter, of the Ukrainian government to take action in self-defence.

EUPHA calls for:

  1. a) An immediate cessation of hostilities, followed rapidly by a withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine, supervised by international monitors from either the United Nations or Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; Page 2/2
  2. b) Respect for the Geneva Conventions, and in particular the protection of health workers and facilities;
  3. c) Full implementation of the Minsk II agreement; and
  4. d) Respect for the rights of those in the Russian Federation who are calling for peace.

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 - 3 March 2022

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.

ASTCT, EBMT, and WBMT joins the international community and requests that:

a) safe corridors can be established for patients and providers to travel to the hospital;

b) international organizations can be allowed to ship medical supplies;

c) patients whose care cannot be completed in Ukraine at this time may be allowed to travel to foreign countries offering to host them.

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

How you can help


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

  • The Ukrainian Bone Marrow Registry won the 2022 DKMS Collaboration Grant and was in the process to list donors for international patients. They have grown impressively over the past three years and facilitated an increasing number of transplants for Ukraine patients.
    • 2020: 4 transplants
    • 2021: 16 transplants
    • 2022: 8 transplants (January/February) → patients transferred to Poland with the support of DKMS Polska
  • DKMS Polska 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.
  • Updates from Ukrainian Registry

    • 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

    • Tuesday, March 1: Nobody from russian bone marrow registries has contacted us until now! Nobody from them has made a statement to russin government to stop war , to stop russian aggression in Ukraine. Right now We have bombalaram. We have officially 365 civil adults and 14 children mordered by russian occupation forces. All our children and adults patients must be transported to Poland, and many thanks to DKMS and polish transplant doctors! Bur russian registers stay silent ! They give silent consent to Putin and this war! Its not normal for bone marrow registries.its not normal for normal people. 
      Roman and Julia Kuts
    • Monday, February 28: Dear Lydia, we appreciate your and WMDA's support! We can not work with new transplantations because of bomb attacks on Kyiv and Cherkasy. I am on the list of territorial defence and I am waiting to be necessary there.  We want to ask you to add information if somebody wants to help financially. It will help us in the future to recover our work by registering new potential donors. From the 24th of February, all Ukrainians and businesses transfer their funds to the army. Everything that people have. The country will enter a financial crisis and will need to be recovered. We know that it will be very difficult to raise funds for our activities.
      This is so tragic because we have started unrelated transplantation first in 2020 and we have achieved a lot since then. 2020 - 4 unrelated transplants, 2021 -16 transplants, 2022 January-February - 8 transplants. 
      We hope that russian registers can make a statement to their government to end the war in Ukraine.
      Thank you! Roman and Julia Kuts

    • 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

Monday, February 28: The dramatic events that happened through the fault of our president did not allow me to start. In addition the situation is changing rapidly and I needed some time to assess it. However, I apologize for not writing to you sooner.
I need to offer a deep apology for the actions of our authorities. The consequences of this are so terrible for the people of Ukraine, Russia and the whole world that it is difficult to put into words. I hope that common sense, humanism and our faith in the best will still overcome this horror. Of course we are ready to provide information about the situation in Russia. However, I need to inform you that I may not have all the information and therefore you may ask other Russian registers-members WMDA about this as well.

Today I can report the following. We are still ready to answer for preliminary search requests without any restrictions. Also we are ready to carry out verification typing and send blood samples outside of Russia upon request. In addition, we are ready to carry out work-up and PBS collections in Russia (we have an agreement with two collection centers). Our registry has its own small team of couriers who have dual citizenship (Russia and one of the EU countries) and who have been trained in Time-matters company. However the situation is changing very quickly, so I can't be sure that changes will not occur. What difficulties may arise?

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. 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

No update received.


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