PEOPLE from mixed race or ethnic minority backgrounds have ''unfair'' survival odds if they need a stem cell donation because of a lack of donors with the same heritage, a leading charity has warned.

Now health chiefs have made an urgent plea for ethnic minority and mixed backgrounds to sign up as donors.

It comes just weeks after a Hampshire teenager has undergone a successful lifesaving bone marrow transplant which it is hoped with cure her leukaemia.

Winchester schoolgirl Zara Al Shaikh – who is of mixed English and Iraqi heritage - underwent the operation at University College London Hospital after a match was finally found last month following a huge social media campaign to find the 13-year-old a match.

The Hampshire Chronicle-backed Match4Zara which attracted help and support from all across the globe and included a donor drive, held by friends and family of the King’s School pupil in Winchester to get more people on the stem cell register.

This saw more than 900 people – or two every minute – register at St Peter’s Church in Jewry Street.

But New figures from the Anthony Nolan and NHS Stem Cell Registry show that demand for donors from people of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds outstrips the number of people from such backgrounds signing up to the register.

Out of 133,367 people who signed up to the register in 2015, just 0.6% were of African descent, 1.9% were African Caribbean and 0.5% were East Asian.

Anthony Nolan said this hampers the chance of BAME patients in dire need of a stem cell donation finding the best possible match.

Figures show that 69% of patients with white Northern European genetic heritage receive the best possible match.

But this figure drops to just 20.5% for patients from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background, the charity said.

''Progress has been made in 2015 to recruit more BAME donors, but we still have so much to do in diversifying the register,'' said Anthony Nolan chief executive Henny Braund.

''While the potential pool of donors from BAME backgrounds is inevitably smaller, we need to continue to inspire and engage these communities to join the register as unfair survival odds still hamper people from BAME backgrounds.'

''Patient power'' through high profile appeals, capturing the public's attention, has generated significant spikes in potential lifesavers applying to join the registers, the report shows.

''Sharing these stories and the challenges BAME patients face is one of the most effective ways to raise awareness and motivate individuals from BAME communities to join the register,'' the report added.

At the age of 11, Zara was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, which then transitioned into leukaemia.

She had found it tougher than most to find a match as her mother Kerensa is English and her father Loua is Iraqi.

This means she has a more diverse tissue type, with just a four per cent chance of finding a suitable donor.

The teenager’s school has also held fundraising events for Delete Blood Cancer UK, which helped Zara find a match, and presented them with a cheque for £500.

The charity is still urging people to sign up as stem cell donors. Visit deletebloodcancer.org.uk for a free swab testing kit or see anthonynolan.org