PAPUA NEW GUINEA · OCEANIA
Is there a bone marrow registry in Papua New Guinea?
For people who live in Papua New Guinea. Live somewhere else? Find your country.
As of , we haven’t found a bone marrow donor registry that people who live in Papua New Guinea can join. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Papua New Guinea’s government said Port Moresby General Hospital carried out the country’s first successful kidney transplant, from a living donor, on May 14, 2025. 5
| Region | Melanesia, Oceania 7 |
|---|---|
| Population | About 10.4 million (2023) 8 |
| Registry | None found as of 6 |
| World donor search | No organization based in Papua New Guinea lists adult donors or cord blood units in WMDA’s Search & Match (). 9 |
| Transplants | Papua New Guinea’s government said the May 2025 kidney transplant, supervised by the UK-based Transplant Links Community, made the country the first Pacific Island nation to perform an organ transplant; it didn’t mention stem cell transplants. 5 |
| Where we looked | 5 places, in English and Tok Pisin |
| Checked | |
| Next check |
What we found in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea carried out its first kidney transplant in May 2025. 5
| Where | Language | Finding | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Marrow Donor Association | English | The World Marrow Donor Association’s member map listed no organization based in Papua New Guinea when we checked it on Oct 11, 2026. 6 | |
| National Department of Health, Papua New Guinea | English | Papua New Guinea’s National Department of Health website has no search function, and its main screen had no marrow donor information when we read it on Oct 11, 2026. 4 | |
| Web search | English | A Tok Pisin web search for ‘givim blut’ on Oct 11, 2026 found no result in Tok Pisin; The National reported in 2017 that Port Moresby General Hospital screens blood following Papua New Guinea National Blood Service procedures. 13 | |
2 more searches with nothing to add
| |||
Can people in Papua New Guinea join a registry abroad?
Stem Cell Donors Australia asks that people who join live in Australia and are eligible for Medicare, and says donations are always collected in Australia, so it doesn’t describe a way to join from Papua New Guinea; New Zealand’s registry delivers its kits across New Zealand, as checked on Oct 15, 2026. 1 2 3
Are stem cell transplants done in Papua New Guinea?
Pacific Media Network reported in September 2026 that Papua New Guinea’s new cancer center in Port Moresby is expected to provide specialist oncology and radiology services to patients from across the Pacific. 10
The National reported in July 2021 that Port Moresby General Hospital’s cancer clinic sees more than 1,000 people with cancer a year, about 30 of them with leukemia, and that patients who go overseas for a bone marrow transplant spend about K20,000 a year on medicines when they return. 11
Papua New Guinea’s first and only pediatric oncology ward opened at Port Moresby General Hospital in 2015, with 12 beds for 40 to 60 children a year, ANZCHOG wrote in August 2022; only about 30 percent of children who start treatment there complete it. 12
Questions about Papua New Guinea
Can a hospital in Papua New Guinea search abroad for a donor?
In the five years before May 2025, 21 Papua New Guineans traveled abroad for kidney transplants, the government said; we don’t know yet how Papua New Guinea patients who need a stem cell donor are referred. 5
Papua New Guinea has no dedicated children’s hospital, and more than 85 percent of its people live in rural areas, which ANZCHOG says helps explain why many children with cancer arrive at Port Moresby General Hospital with advanced disease and limited, irregular access to chemotherapy. 12
About donating: Does it hurt?, How donation works and Recovery.
Know of a registry in Papua New Guinea?
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
- Stem Cell Donors Australia (Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry). Pre-Enrolment Questions pt 1 (cheek swab route). Checked
- Stem Cell Donors Australia (Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry). Am I eligible? Checked
- New Zealand Bone Marrow Donor Registry (NZ Blood Service). How to join.
Official bodies
- National Department of Health, Papua New Guinea. Department of Health - PNG home.
- National Information Center, Government of Papua New Guinea. Marape Announces PNG’s First Successful Kidney Transplant as Historic Milestone in National Health Care. Updated May 15, 2025. Checked
Figures and lists
- World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). Find your registry.
- 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).
- WMDA. WMDA Total Number of Donors and Cord blood units.
Other sources
- Pacific Media Network. PNG cancer centre set to open its doors to all patients in the Pacific. Updated Sep 9, 2026. Checked
- The National. Cancer a major concern. Updated Jul 1, 2021. Checked
- Australian and New Zealand Children's Haematology/Oncology Group (ANZCHOG). An insight into paediatric oncology in Papua New Guinea with [name removed]. Updated Aug 15, 2022. Checked
- The National (Papua New Guinea). Blood donors must meet health requirements. Updated Nov 13, 2017.