Zee Media and MDRI come together for 'Gift A Life' initiative

The initiative aims to save lives of people suffering from blood disorders and increase the registration count of stem cell donors manifold

September 24, 2013:

Zee Media Corporation Ltd., India's largest news network, in association with Marrow Donor Registry of India (MDRI) is launching a new initiative 'Gift A Life' designed to help India in becoming healthier. This awareness initiative aims to save lives of people suffering from blood disorders and increase the registration count of stem cell donors manifold.

Zee Media orchestrated this initiative after a survey showed that every year, thousands of people suffering from blood disorders such as leukaemia, thalesmia aplastic anaemia, sickle-cell anaemia and other fatal blood disorders die. If that was not all, studies show that the number of patients in India will increase every year manifold. Most of these patients can be treated through various therapies. But most treatments cannot cure ALL the patients ALL the time. In such situations 'Stem Cell' transplants come to their rescue where the unhealthy bone marrow is replaced with healthy stem cells.

The MDR(I) is one of the first Indian NGO's which is creating a computerized database of voluntary, unrelated stem cell donors to facilitate blood stem cell transplants for patients with life-threatening blood diseases. It recruits donors, carries out HLA testing themselves and initiates a search for matched stem cell donors for any patient anywhere across the globe.

Dr. Sunil Parekh, Chairman, MDRI says, “India today has a very small number of registered donors, but it has been observed that it is not so that Indians do not want to help in the noble cause but it is mainly the lack of awareness that is the issue. Conventionally, siblings are the first ones who usually become the donors but only around 30% patients have an “HLA matched” siblings for transplant. Therefore, more than 70% patients are in need of an unrelated marrow donors.”

Zee Media's 'Gift A Life' initiative will address the huge problem by serving three objectives – raising  awareness about bone marrow transplant;  increasing the voluntary donors database and inviting financial support for MDRI to conduct HLA testing.

Starting on September 22, Zee Media will promote the awareness campaign by telecasting a special half an hour episode dedicated on the subject at 6.30 pm across their network of 9 channels. The campaign's print partner 'DNA' will carry advertisements and devote editorial space, to share in-depth knowledge with the readers. In addition during the one-month long campaign period, Zee Media will run TVC, testimonials of renowned doctors and patients, corporate bytes and stories to increase the registration counts and invite financial donations for MDRI. Zee Media is also focused on to promote the health initiative on its online portals and corresponding social media platforms.

Rohit Kumar, Marketing Head, Zee Media Corporation Ltd says, “'Gift A Life' is an initiative with the vision of a healthier India. Zee Media in association with MDRI is not only informing and educating people but also stimulating the thought and action of participating to do good for the country and our fellow citizens. It is in line with our philosophy of 'Soch Badlo Desh Badlo', that we want to mobilze people to think correctly and act upon it with a sense of urgency in their mindscape.”

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