Dubai: The Dubai Cord Blood and Research Centre (DCRC) on Tuesday launched the Treasure of Life campaign to raise awareness about the importance of donating cord blood stem cells.
Dr Fatma Al Hashemi, senior clinical scientist and head of donor recruitment at the centre, stressed the importance of the campaign as more than 80 diseases can be cured using cord blood stem cells, including thalassemia, leukaemia and sickle cell disease.
“As part of the campaign, DCRC will be visiting public government entities, public health care clinics and hospitals twice a month to raise awareness. The year-long programme aims to encourage mothers with a family history of cancer, autoimmune diseases and blood disorders to preserve the stem cells of their babies.
"This is because the chances their children may develop any of these diseases is higher and so they might need an exact match of units of stem cells,” Dr Al Hashemi said.
