Stem cell donor registrations in Flanders quadruple after public appeals
The Flemish Red Cross saw a sharp increase in new potential stem cell donors last year, with a notable rise in registrations from communities that have traditionally been underrepresented in the registry. The surge followed widely shared media appeals that encouraged many people with Moroccan and Turkish roots to come forward.
In total, 7,360 people registered as potential stem cell donors in 2025, four times as many as in 2024, when 1,597 people signed up. A significant proportion of these new candidates came from Moroccan and Turkish communities, helping to address long-standing disparities in donor availability.
Matching a challenge
For certain blood and bone marrow disorders, such as leukaemia or beta thalassaemia, a stem cell transplant can be life-saving. During such a transplant, a patient’s diseased stem cells are replaced with those from a healthy donor.
Finding a suitable match, however, is complex, as tissue types must be an almost perfect fit. The greatest chance of a match is within the patient’s own family; if no match is found, patients turn to the domestic and international stem cell registry.
Belgium’s stem cell registry has 82,000 potential donors, while the global registry has around 43 million. For patients with European roots, the chance of finding a match is 96 per cent. For those with roots in Morocco, Turkey or Sub-Saharan Africa, that likelihood drops to 66 per cent.
"That high figure is crucial for giving more patients a chance at life"
In February 2025, eight-year-old Berrin, a child of Turkish origin, launched an appeal that prompted many people of Turkish origin to register. During the Warmest Week in December, a similar appeal by 11-year-old Hafsa, who has Moroccan roots, also generated a strong response.
“In 2024, 73 Flemish people with Moroccan or Turkish roots registered, and in 2025, that number had risen to 2,972,” says Vincent Verbeecke, spokesperson for Red Cross Flanders. “That high figure is crucial for giving more patients a chance at life.”
In addition, 3,078 Flemish people with European roots registered with the stem cell registry.
Last year, 333 stem cell transplants between unrelated donors and patients were performed in Belgium through the stem cell registry, including 171 in Flanders. Meanwhile, the number of Belgian patients searching for a suitable match in the stem cell registry continued to rise, from 525 in 2024 to 540 in 2025.
#FlandersNewsService | A technician works in a lab that offers cellular biology services using stem cells for personalised therapies and molecular biology services © PHOTO GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP
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