Every year, on 14 June, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day. The theme of this year’s ‘World Blood Donor’s Day’ is “Blood Connects Us”. June 14 is the birthday anniversary of Karl Landsteiner who was born on this day in 1868. Karl Landsteiner was a great scientist who won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the ABO blood group system.
Blood cannot yet be manufactured artificially, so voluntary blood donation remains vital for healthcare worldwide. Many anonymous blood donors save lives every day through their blood donations. The event serves to thank voluntary unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood and to raise awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure quality, safety and availability of blood and blood products for patients in need. The event was established by the World Health Organization in the year 2004. Transfusion of blood and blood products helps save millions of lives every year. It can help patients suffering from life-threatening conditions live longer and with improved quality of life, and supports complex medical and surgical procedures. It also has an essential, life-saving role in maternal and perinatal care. Access to safe and sufficient blood and blood products can help reduce rates of death and disability due to severe bleeding during delivery and after childbirth. It also has an essential, life-saving role in maternal and child care and during man-made and natural disasters.
In many countries, there is no adequate supply of safe blood, and blood services face the challenge of making sufficient blood available, while also ensuring its quality and safety. In these countries demand exceeds the supply. An adequate supply can only be assured through regular donations by voluntary unpaid blood donors.
As per statistics in 2014, 60 countries had their national blood supplies based on 99-100% voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 73 countries still largely depended on family and paid donors. WHO’s goal is for all countries to obtain all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors by 20 20.World Health Organization has been at the forefront of the movement to improve global blood safety since 1975 as mandated by successive World Health Assembly resolutions.
The objective of the WHO program on ‘Blood Transfusion Safety’ is to ensure provision of universal access to safe, quality and efficacious blood and blood products for transfusion, their safe and appropriate use, and also ensuring blood donor and patient safety. It is understood that every year 108 million blood donations are collected globally, half of these are in high-income countries. It has been calculated that 1 % blood donation by 1% of the population can meet a nation’s most basic requirements for blood. Every day, about 800 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications.
One needs to know that blood donation does not have any major side effects on the health of the donor. But blood donation improves health of the heart, reduces cancer risk and burn calories. Any healthy person between the age of 18 and 60 can donate blood.
