Swab The World Information

How It All Began: When Mai Duong, co-founder of Swab The World, was diagnosed with leukemia for a second time, a stem cell transplant was her only cure. She learned that her odds of finding a compatible match in time were incredibly low. Why? Because she’s Vietnamese. The Problem: Anyone can get blood cancer or a blood disorder, but not everyone has the same chance of survival. That’s because a stem cell transplant — often the only treatment option — requires the donor to be of the same ethnicity. And currently, there’s a huge shortage of non-white donors. Our Mission: Swab The World is a start-up charity working hard to fight racial inequality in the niche field of blood cancer and stem cell donation. Our mission is to increase awareness of stem cell donation, diversify the international database of registered donors, and help patients find life-saving stem cell donors. Fatal Imbalance: Right now, 70% of all registered stem cell donors are white, even though roughly 88% of the world’s population is not. Let’s change the odds for BIPOC communities, one donor at a time.