Every year, February the 4^th is a World Cancer Day, proclaimed by the “International Union Against Cancer.”

The purpose of this international day is to raise awareness about cancer for the purpose of prevention, timely diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

The initiators of this annual global event propagate healthy lifestyle, not smoking and junk food, physical activity, as well as vaccination against oncogenic viruses primarily the ones causing cancer of the liver (hepatitis B and C) and cervical cancer (human papilloma virus).

Due to the high prevalence of blood cancer in the structure of oncologic diseases, especially among children, the medical community should pay special attention to the development of the registers of hematopoietic stem cells donors and umbilical cord blood banking. Bone marrow hematopoietic stem cell transplantion is the only effective treatment for many forms of leukemia and lymphoma, thanks to which these diseases are considered treatable. The European Group for Bone Marrow Transplantation announced that cord blood due to high content of hematopoietic stem cells is equivalent to bone marrow.

As of 2013, more than 30,000 umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantations were perfomed worldwide.

Thus, cord blood banking can be compared to a biological insurance for hematologic malignancies, and the organization of the public cord blood bank is an important aspect of the development of hematologic transplantation in Ukraine.