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BELIZE · AMERICAS

Is there a bone marrow registry in Belize?

For people who live in Belize. Live somewhere else? Find your country.

As of , we haven’t found a bone marrow donor registry that people who live in Belize can join. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. News 5 Belize reported in Jan 2024 that bone marrow treatment wasn’t available in Belize, and that the health ministry had sent children to a hospital in Mérida, Mexico, since about 2010. 12

No verified way to join yetHow we check
Belize at a glance
RegionCentral America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Americas 8
PopulationAbout 411,000 (2023) 9
RegistryNone found as of 6 7
World donor searchNo organization based in Belize lists adult donors or cord blood units in WMDA’s Search & Match (). 6
TransplantsNews 5 Belize reported on Jan 5, 2024 that bone marrow treatment wasn’t available in Belize, and that since about 2010 the Ministry of Health had sent children to a hospital in Mérida, Mexico, under an agreement that had since expired. We haven’t found a stem cell transplant service in Belize. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. 12
Where we looked7 places, in English and Spanish
Checked
Next check

What we found in Belize

News 5 Belize reported in 2024 that marrow treatment wasn’t available in Belize. 12

WhereLanguageFindingDate
World Marrow Donor AssociationEnglishOn Oct 11, 2026, no organization based in Belize was on WMDA’s member map or in its organization database. 7 10
Ministry of Health & Wellness, BelizeEnglishOn Oct 11, 2026, the Belize Ministry of Health and Wellness homepage in Belmopan loaded with little text and no mention of marrow or stem cell donation. 4
Web searchEnglishOn Oct 15, 2026, English and Spanish searches found no marrow donor registry or drive in Belize; News 5 Belize reported in 2016 on a child who had to go to Mexico for care. 11
Ministry of Health & Wellness, BelizeEnglishOn Oct 16, 2026, a search for “marrow” on the site of Belize’s Ministry of Health and Wellness returned no results. 5
Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital AuthorityEnglishOn Oct 16, 2026, the site of Belize’s Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital found nothing when we searched it for “marrow.” 1
2 more searches with nothing to add
  • Web search English · 2 searches, to

Can people in Belize join a registry abroad?

When we checked on Oct 16, 2026, NMDP México described joining only at its registration events or at fixed points in Mexico, and NMDP, the U.S. registry, required living in the United States, a U.S. territory or a freely associated state; neither said anything about Belize. 2 3

Are stem cell transplants done in Belize?

Greater Belize Media reported on Dec 30, 2025 that Belize’s government pays for chemotherapy at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and has removed GST on those drugs, that diagnosis and long-term cancer care still mean trips abroad, and that a children’s cancer wing supported by St. Jude is planned for 2027. 13

Official figures show 72 children in Belize were diagnosed with cancer in the five years to Dec 2025, Greater Belize Media reported; the Belize Cancer Society, whose president is Kim Simplis Barrow, helps their families with logistics, travel and costs. 13

Questions about Belize

Can a hospital in Belize search abroad for a donor?

News 5 Belize reported in May 2016 that a Belizean child with leukemia, first treated at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, had been flown to Mérida, Mexico, for treatment while waiting for the bone marrow transplant he needed. 11

News 5 Belize reported in Oct 2015 that the Belize Cancer Society had set up a fund of more than BZ$300,000, run with pediatricians and Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, to pay a Mérida hospital that treats Belizean children; it has also reported children sent to Honduras in 2016 and to New York in 2000. 14 15 16

About donating: Does it hurt?, How donation works and Recovery.

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The link preview says: “No verified way to join yet. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Here’s what we checked.”

Sources

How we check

Checked , unless a source says otherwise.

Registries

  1. Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Authority. Search Results for: marrow.
  2. NMDP México. Donar Células Madre • NMDP México.
  3. NMDP. Join the donor registry | NMDP. Checked

Official bodies

  1. Ministry of Health & Wellness, Belize. Ministry of Health & Wellness Belize. Checked
  2. Ministry of Health & Wellness, Belize. Search results for: marrow.

Figures and lists

  1. WMDA. WMDA Total Number of Donors and Cord blood units. Checked
  2. World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). Find your registry. Checked
  3. United Nations Statistics Division. Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49): Overview (English table). Checked
  4. UN DESA Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024: Total population by sex (CSV). Checked
  5. WMDA (Share, Organisation data public access). Database. Checked

Other sources

  1. News 5 Belize (Channel 5). Cleyon Needs a Bone Marrow Transplant. Updated May 6, 2016. Checked
  2. News 5 Belize (Channel 5). Cancer and Available Treatment for Belizeans. Updated Jan 5, 2024.
  3. Greater Belize Media. 72 Children, One Reality: Cancer in Belize. Updated Dec 30, 2025.
  4. News 5 Belize (Channel 5). Arrangement Made With Merida Hospital to Treat Belizean Children. Updated Oct 23, 2015.
  5. News 5 Belize (Channel 5). Family of Child with Cancer Needs Your Help. Updated Jun 3, 2016.
  6. News 5 Belize (Channel 5). Child with cancer receives care in N.Y. Updated Dec 21, 2000.