KENYA · AFRICA
Is there a bone marrow registry in Kenya?
For people who live in Kenya. Live somewhere else? Find your country.
As of , we haven’t found a bone marrow donor registry that people who live in Kenya can join. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Kenya’s 2022 law makes the Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority keep a registry of donors and recipients, but we found no way to sign up as a stem cell donor. 8
| Region | Eastern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Africa 11 |
|---|---|
| Population | About 55.3 million (2023) 12 |
| Registry | None found as of 9 10 |
| World donor search | No organization based in Kenya lists adult donors in WMDA’s Search & Match (). 10 |
| Transplants | Business Daily reported in October 2025 that Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital planned both autologous transplants, using a patient’s own cells, and allogeneic ones, using a donor’s, for children in Kenya with sickle cell disease and leukemia, and that Nairobi West Hospital’s transplant unit does autologous transplants only. 14 |
| Where we looked | 13 places, in English and Swahili |
| Checked | |
| Next check |
What we found in Kenya
Kenya’s transplant authority must keep a donor registry by law. 8
| Where | Language | Finding | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Marrow Donor Association | English | On Oct 11, 2026, WMDA’s map of member registries showed none based in Kenya, and no organization based in Kenya listed donor records in WMDA’s Search & Match. 9 10 | |
| Kenyatta National Hospital | English | A search of Kenyatta National Hospital’s site for “bone marrow” returned no results on Oct 11, 2026. 5 | |
| Web search | English | An English web search on Oct 11, 2026 found no Kenyan donor registry, but Business Daily reported in October 2025 that Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital in Nairobi had set up a children’s bone marrow transplant center. 14 | |
| Kenya Law (National Council for Law Reporting) | English | A Swahili search on Oct 11, 2026 led to the Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority Order (Legal Notice 142 of 2022), which tells the authority to keep a donor registry and set up a fair way to match and allocate cells, tissue and organs. 8 | |
9 more searches with nothing to add
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We couldn’t open the website of Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service when we tried on Oct 11, 2026. That tells us nothing about whether it offers a way to join.
We couldn’t open one other official page when we tried on Oct 11, 2026. That tells us nothing about whether it offers a way to join.
Can people in Kenya join a registry abroad?
Are stem cell transplants done in Kenya?
The Kenya Society of Haematology and Oncology (KESHO) reported in October 2025 that Kenya’s first children’s bone marrow transplant center, a KSh 200 million facility, was operating in Nairobi. 13
The Standard reported that Nairobi West Hospital did Kenya’s first bone marrow transplant on Oct 10, 2022, for a 55-year-old woman with multiple myeloma, and that its unit could then do only autologous transplants, costing Sh2.7 million to Sh3.7 million against Sh4 million to Sh10 million abroad. 15
The Star reported in July 2026 that a 57-year-old man with multiple myeloma had a bone marrow transplant at The Nairobi West Hospital in December 2025, and that Kenyans who needed one had for years gone abroad, often to India or South Africa. 16
Has Kenya announced a registry or a law?
In November 2017 the Kevin Kararwa Leukaemia Trust, working in the UK and Kenya, was a founding member of a Stem Cell Registry Alliance that aimed to let registries in Africa and the Caribbean recruit and type donors. 1
The Standard reported in December 2025 that the Kenya Blood, Cells, Tissues and Organs Bill, 2025, sponsored by Seme MP James Nyikal, would create a Kenya Blood and Transplant Authority to coordinate blood, cell, tissue and organ donation, taking over from the Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority. 17
Business Daily reported in June 2025 that Kenya’s legal framework for organ and tissue donation was not yet being implemented, even though the Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority is responsible for keeping a registry of donors and recipients. 18
Know of a registry in Kenya?
Download the card
The link preview says: “No verified way to join yet. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Here’s what we checked.”
Registries
- ACLT (African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust, UK charity 1119516). Stem Cell Registries Across the World Unite to Launch SCRA. Updated Nov 9, 2017.
- SABMR. Donor Exclusion Criteria - SABMR.
- DKMS Africa. Registration (1/11) - first eligibility screen.
- DKMS Africa. Blood stem cell registration form for non-sa citizens.
- Kenyatta National Hospital. Search Results for 'bone marrow' – Kenyatta National Hospital.
Official bodies
- Ministry of Health, Kenya. MoH | Ministry of Health.
- Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service. Attention Required! | Cloudflare. Tried ; we couldn’t open it
- Kenya Law (National Council for Law Reporting). Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority Order (Legal Notice 142 of 2022). 2022.
Figures and lists
- World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). Find your registry.
- WMDA. WMDA Total Number of Donors and Cord blood units.
- United Nations Statistics Division. Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49): Overview (English table).
- UN DESA Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024: Total population by sex (CSV).
Other sources
- Kenya Society of Haematology and Oncology (KESHO). Kenya Opens First Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Centre. Updated Oct 13, 2025.
- Business Daily. Hospital eyes Kenya's maiden donor-cell bone-marrow transplants. Updated Oct 13, 2025.
- The Standard (Kenya). Hope as city hospital puts up first bone marrow transplant facility. Updated Oct 18, 2022. Checked
- The Star (Kenya). How a bone marrow transplant gave a Kenyan multiple myeloma patient new lease on life. Updated Jul 15, 2026. Checked
- The Standard (Kenya). How new Transplant law could improve access to kidney treatment, blood donation. Updated Dec 24, 2025. Checked
- Business Daily (Kenya). Legal gaps delay Kenya's rollout of organ, tissue donation programme. Updated Jun 8, 2025. Checked