A novel initiative in partnership with MDA and PRCS (Magen David Adom and Palestinian Red Crescent Society respectively) offers Palestinians, for the first time, the opportunity to share in cord blood banking, and hence, Palestinian newborns are incorporated in a global scheme of collecting and storing umbilical cord blood extracted from placentas following deliveries. This contribution to local and international cord blood samples may be used for procedures such as bone marrow transplantation in the future. Relatively little HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen – tissue type matching for transplant purposes) data is available from the Arab world, and thus this novel initiative may enhance the survival chances of Palestinian children with leukemia and other major blood disorders.

Palestinian hospital nurses and midwives have undergone training both in an Israeli hospital as well as on site, with Israeli hematologists and nurses demonstrating the extraction process.