THE Asian community in Watford is being targeted by a campaign to find more bone marrow donors.

The Friends of Life organisation was set up earlier this year by Mr Ajay Kumar, from Slough, when his four-year-old niece Darpan Kumar was diagnosed with leukaemia.

Darpan has now been given two weeks to live unless a perfect bone marrow donor, who is highly likely be from the Asian community, is found.

There are 4,000 bone marrow donors from Britain's three million-strong Asian community and - with only one in 100,000 donors likely to form a perfect match - Mr Kumar launched an attempt to get more Asian donors registered.

His Friends for Life organisation has found 1,000 new Asian donors since it was established two months ago and is being supported by the Hare Krishna Temple at Bhakivedanta Manor in Hilfield Lane, Aldenham.

On Sunday, the temple held a blood test clinic to register donors to the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust, a charity which co-ordinates donors across the United Kingdom.

About 100 people registered as donors at the event, although none could provide a match for Darpan.

Mr Bimal Krishna Das, spokesman for Bhakivedanta Manor, said: 'Friends of Life was formed because there are so few Asian registered bone marrow donors and there are about a dozen cases of Asian people in need of bone marrow around the country.

'The increase in registered donors by 1,000 in a couple of months is an increase of about 25 per cent and we want to take this further.

'I think in the past there has been a shortage of publicity about the need for donors.

'There is a lack of awareness in the Asian community about the need and we hope to take our campaign to places of worship where people gather.

'The Hare Krishna Temple is holding one of its biggest festivals of the year, the Janmashtami Festival, on Wednesday, August 23 and Sunday, August 27, and there will be a blood test clinic there.'

to celebrate the birth of Krishna

Mr Krishna Das said: 'At last year's festival we had between 30,000 and 40,000 people and so we will be hoping to get a great number of people to register this year.