Lack of information about umbilical cord blood banking leads to decreased donation rates among Brazilian pregnant women.

The donation of umbilical cord blood (UCB) to public banks is essential to increase the probability of finding compatible donors for hematopoietic stem cell transplants. Brazil is currently the third-largest country in number of registered bone marrow donors, but it is far behind in terms of UCB donation. Thus, this questionnaire-based study aimed to assess Brazilian pregnant women's awareness, knowledge, beliefs, and opinions about UCB banking in order to identify the causes of low donation rates.