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FRIDAY, Feb. 11(HealthDay News) -- Every single adult in the United States is carrying around the raw materials to save at least one life, and possibly more than one.
Donation of organs, blood, bone marrow and even the stem cells contained in umbilical cord blood can help heal tens of thousands of people afflicted with terrible diseases, health officials say.
But the need for most of these donations is growing, not shrinking.
As of Feb. 10, 110,324 people were on a national waiting list for an organ donation, up more than 80 percent from the 59,862 people on the list a decade before, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
"The gap is growing because more people are getting added to the waiting list than are donating," said Mary L. Ganikos, chief of the public and professional education branch at the agency's transplantation division.
Taking aim at the problem, health officials on Feb. 14 -- National Donor Day -- intend to urge people to:
Stem cells from marrow and cord blood are primarily used to treat deadly diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia and autoimmune disorders. There were 5,228 blood stem cell transplants during fiscal year 2010, compared with 4,820 in 2009 and 2,310 in 2003, according to federal officials.
State organ donor registries have more than 90 million people on their rolls, all told, but Ganikos said that many more are needed because only a small fraction of deaths actually result in a donation. Officials hope to increase the number of registered donors to 100 million.
Currently, only whole blood donations adequately meet the needs of public health, officials report. In 2007, for instance, 15.6 million units of blood were donated, exceeding the 14.4 million units that were transfused that year, according to the National Blood Collection and Utilization Survey Report compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
To close the donation gap in other areas, though, public health officials face a number of obstacles, but the main problem seems to be a lack of widespread knowledge about the need for donations and the relative ease of signing up to be a donor.
This is particularly true of donations of umbilical cord blood, which is rich in stem cells, said Nawraz Shawir, a public health analyst with the government's Blood Stem Cell Transplantation Program.
"There is not enough awareness out there about the possibility of umbilical cord blood donation," Shawir said. "The cord blood usually is discarded, unless the woman is aware of the great potential of this blood to help other patients."
Likewise, many people don't know how easy it is to sign up to be a bone marrow donor, said Nadya Dutchin, a national account executive at the Be the Match Registry maintained by the National Marrow Donor Program.
All a person has to do to become a potential marrow donor is sign a consent form and send in a cheek swab, Dutchin said. Their genetic code will be drawn from that swab and entered into the registry.
Seven of 10 people who need a blood stem cell donation cannot get one from a family member because they are not a close enough genetic match, Ganikos said. When that happens, people are forced to go to the registry to look for an unrelated donor.
Another obstacle to increasing the donor ranks is the presence of an array of misconceptions about organ, blood and marrow donation.
Donation of organs, blood, bone marrow and even the stem cells contained in umbilical cord blood can help heal tens of thousands of people afflicted with terrible diseases, health officials say.
But the need for most of these donations is growing, not shrinking.
As of Feb. 10, 110,324 people were on a national waiting list for an organ donation, up more than 80 percent from the 59,862 people on the list a decade before, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
"The gap is growing because more people are getting added to the waiting list than are donating," said Mary L. Ganikos, chief of the public and professional education branch at the agency's transplantation division.
Taking aim at the problem, health officials on Feb. 14 -- National Donor Day -- intend to urge people to:
- Fill out an organ and tissue donation card and register with their state registry for donors.
- Join the nationwide registry of volunteers willing to donate marrow and blood stem cells.
- Learn how to donate stems cells from umbilical cord blood after the birth of a baby.
- Donate blood.
Stem cells from marrow and cord blood are primarily used to treat deadly diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia and autoimmune disorders. There were 5,228 blood stem cell transplants during fiscal year 2010, compared with 4,820 in 2009 and 2,310 in 2003, according to federal officials.
State organ donor registries have more than 90 million people on their rolls, all told, but Ganikos said that many more are needed because only a small fraction of deaths actually result in a donation. Officials hope to increase the number of registered donors to 100 million.
Currently, only whole blood donations adequately meet the needs of public health, officials report. In 2007, for instance, 15.6 million units of blood were donated, exceeding the 14.4 million units that were transfused that year, according to the National Blood Collection and Utilization Survey Report compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
To close the donation gap in other areas, though, public health officials face a number of obstacles, but the main problem seems to be a lack of widespread knowledge about the need for donations and the relative ease of signing up to be a donor.
This is particularly true of donations of umbilical cord blood, which is rich in stem cells, said Nawraz Shawir, a public health analyst with the government's Blood Stem Cell Transplantation Program.
"There is not enough awareness out there about the possibility of umbilical cord blood donation," Shawir said. "The cord blood usually is discarded, unless the woman is aware of the great potential of this blood to help other patients."
Likewise, many people don't know how easy it is to sign up to be a bone marrow donor, said Nadya Dutchin, a national account executive at the Be the Match Registry maintained by the National Marrow Donor Program.
All a person has to do to become a potential marrow donor is sign a consent form and send in a cheek swab, Dutchin said. Their genetic code will be drawn from that swab and entered into the registry.
Seven of 10 people who need a blood stem cell donation cannot get one from a family member because they are not a close enough genetic match, Ganikos said. When that happens, people are forced to go to the registry to look for an unrelated donor.
Another obstacle to increasing the donor ranks is the presence of an array of misconceptions about organ, blood and marrow donation.
