Increasing Cord Blood Donation In the Underrepresented Populations

Problem: The cord blood donor pool available for stem cell transplantation is under-representative of minority ethnic populations. The city of St. Louis has a large minority population that is ethnically diverse that could enrich representation in the cord donor pool. In discussion with community leaders of minority groups it is likely that donation can be improved by enhancing education and resources towards developing programs that target these populations. The hospital that serves a vast majority of ethnic deliveries in the St. Louis City currently retrieves 7.3% of them as cord blood units in 2007. Plan: The plan will be to develop an educational program that would target ethnic populations to increase awareness of importance of donating cord blood to increase the pool of donors for the general population. Educational targets include physician offices, clinics and hospitals in the metropolitan area. Educational tools will include material describing the importance and the ease of the donation process. Education will be continued at planned birthing classes to provide information and answer questions regarding the cord blood donation process. Evaluation: The percentage of donations will be tracked as evaluation of this intervention on a monthly basis. One years worth of data will be analyzed to evaluate the relevance of the educational measures and if the program was successful in increasing the donation of cord blood in this patient population. Additional interventions will depend on funding and personnel available for such intervention. Future Plans: It will be determined if this project had an impact on the numbers of donations. We would plan to initiate this process in other hospitals in the St. Louis region to increase the cord blood collection rates. If these measures are successful then the educational measures could be instituted nationwide to increase the cord blood donation process.