Durban University of Technology (DUT) students will be doing their bit for The Sunflower Fund and the South African National Blood Services (SANBS) this week…

Durban University of Technology (DUT) students will be doing their bit for The Sunflower Fund and the South African National Blood Services (SANBS) this week.

Siyabathanda, a group of second year students studying towards a national diploma in public relations management, will hold a blood drive at DUT’s Steve Biko Campus on Wednesday 10 August between 9am and 3pm.

Their aim is to educate and recruit 50 healthy, caring and committed bone marrow stem cell donors for inclusion on the South African bone marrow registry.

The students have been given assignments to carry out community engagement projects this year, to serve educational campaigns and give recognition to the non-profit organisations they work with.

They have been assigned to work with The Sunflower Fund which aims to educate and recruit a viable source of well-informed potential bone marrow stem cell donors who are ethnically diverse, in an effort to save the lives of those suffering from life-threatening blood disorders.

The more donors on the registry, the more hope leukaemia patients have of finding their 1:100 000 donor match.

It is very unlikely that a leukaemia patient in need of a transplant will find their donor match outside their ethnic group which means that in South Africa The Sunflower Fund needs to educate and recruit 100 000 black, coloured, Indian and white donors.

According to Tenley Cummings from The Sunflower Fund, the registry is currently sitting on 65 500 donors, which means the fund has a long way to go to reach the 400 000 donor mark.

Although campus life has been disrupted recently, the students are confident they will be able to host their planned awareness talks during the course of this week.

For more information on The Sunflower Fund or on how to become a donor contact 0800 12 10 82 or visit www.sunflowerfund.org.za

– Looklocal.co.za