Why does DKMS want people from different ethnicities to sign up?

Tissue characteristics vary from person to person and between ethnicities. When finding a matching donor, a person’s ethnic background is important. A donor with the same ethnic background as a patient may be a better match than one who comes from an entirely different ethnic background.

This means we need as many people as possible with the widest possible variety of genetic characteristics to register on our database.

If you register with DKMS as a potential blood stem cell donor, we ask you about your ethnic background. This information allows us to organise our database more efficiently, making it easier and faster for doctors to search for a matching donor for their patient.