Special report: Summary of the first meeting of African Blood and Marrow Transplantation (AfBMT) group, Casablanca, Morocco, April 19-21, 2018 held under the auspices of the Worldwide Network for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (WBMT)

Mhamed Harif; Daniel Weisdorf; Nicolas Novitzky; Jeff Szer; Lahoucine Mahmal; Malek Benakli; Tarek Ben Othman; Nosakhare Bazuaye; Eoin McGrath; Paul W Eldridge; Lamia Torjemane; Abdellah Madani; Redouane Ahmed Nacer; Reguia Belkhedim; Walid Rasheed; Syed O Ahmed; Yoshihisa Kodera; Mahmoud Aljurf; Dietger W Niederwieser; Asmaa Quessar

doi:10.1016/j.hemonc.2019.05.003

Special report: Summary of the first meeting of African Blood and Marrow Transplantation (AfBMT) group, Casablanca, Morocco, April 19-21, 2018 held under the auspices of the Worldwide Network for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (WBMT)

Hematol Oncol Stem Cell Ther. 2020 Dec;13(4):202-207. doi: 10.1016/j.hemonc.2019.05.003. Epub 2019 Jun 4.

Authors

Mhamed Harif¹, Daniel Weisdorf², Nicolas Novitzky³, Jeff Szer⁴, Lahoucine Mahmal⁵, Malek Benakli⁶, Tarek Ben Othman⁷, Nosakhare Bazuaye⁸, Eoin McGrath⁹, Paul W Eldridge¹⁰, Lamia Torjemane⁷, Abdellah Madani¹, Redouane Ahmed Nacer⁶, Reguia Belkhedim¹¹, Walid Rasheed¹¹, Syed O Ahmed¹¹, Yoshihisa Kodera¹², Mahmoud Aljurf¹¹, Dietger W Niederwieser¹³, Asmaa Quessar¹

Affiliations

¹ Hematology, pediatric oncology, Ibn Rochd University Hospital, University of Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco.
² University of Minnesota, USA.
³ University of Cape Town, RSA.
⁴ Department of Clinical Haematology & BMT Service, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
⁵ Mohammed VI University Hospital, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco.
⁶ Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation department at Pierre and Marie Curie Center and teaches at the Faculty of Medicine of Algiers, Algeria.
⁷ Centre national de greffe de moelle, University of Tunis Al Manar, Tunisia.
⁸ University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.
⁹ European Society for Blood & Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), Barcelona, Spain.
¹⁰ University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
¹¹ Oncology Center, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹² Department of Promotion for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Nagakute, Aichi, Japan.
¹³ Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.

PMID: 31181176
DOI: 10.1016/j.hemonc.2019.05.003

Abstract

The first meeting of the African Blood and Marrow Transplantation (AfBMT) was held in Casablanca from April 19, 2018 to April 21, 2018, with the aim of fostering hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) activity in Africa. Out of the 54 African countries, HSCT is available only in six (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tunisia). During this meeting, African teams and international experts from the Worldwide Network for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (WBMT) gathered to share their experience and discussed ways to help fill the gap. Nurses and patients held their meeting in parallel. International support and collaboration can help by providing expertise adapted to local resources and regional population needs. Local engagement including government and private participants are necessary to initiate and develop local HSCT capability.

Keywords: Africa; Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

MeSH terms

Bone Marrow Transplantation*
Congresses as Topic
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation*
Morocco