Background: This paper gives a general overview of the policies of countries in given regions and identifies a few countries for which the content will be analyzed and related to the context in which they operate.Rapid Response Question: What are the stem cell policies and regulations globally?Findings: The different laws or degrees to which the field of stem cell therapy has been embraced are explained by the contexts that the regions, countries or organizations are working in; the actors or stakeholders like the church, the cultural norms and beliefs, pressure groups that are not or are pro-life and so on. The resources needed like the highly skilled human resource, sophisticated technology and large financial sources for such research are also a clear decisive factor for countries to engage or not, in this field.Conclusion: Policies and regulations in different countries reveal lessons pertaining to the content of the policy which further points to the contexts that those countries are working in. The contexts may be financial, cultural, political, ethical or even social. These have shaped the working environment of stem cell research over the last two decades.
