Biden Encourages Bone Marrow Donation in National Donate Life Month Proclamation

President Joe Biden celebrated the generosity of organ, eye, tissue, marrow and bone marrow donors and encouraged others to become donors in a National Donate Life Month proclamation issued on Friday.

The proclamation noted that doctors in the United States have performed more than one million organ transplants to date. However, it emphasized that the number of people in need of life-saving organs remains high.

The proclamation also highlighted recent actions that aim to improve the organ donation process. These include passing the bipartisan U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act, which seeks to increase competition in the contracts process; the established the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Modernization Initiative, which aims to increase transparency around organ donation; and the launch of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), which has already invested $26 million into addressing organ transplant shortages through on-demand 3D tissue printing.

The White House concluded by thanking current donors and encouraging Americans to visit organdonor.gov to learn more about organ, eye and tissue donation, and bloodstemcell.hrsa.gov for marrow and blood donation.