Give Blood Now and Often
By FT Correspondent
Observed by all member states of the World Health Organization, World Blood Donor Day is celebrated every year on 14 June to spread awareness for the need for safe blood and encourage blood donations for their voluntary lifesaving.
In Pakistan, however blood donation practices have not taken root and is usually done through ‘family donors’ when in need by a family member which makes this not a health source.
Of the 3.5 million blood donations collected annually, around 90 per cent are from relatives of the patients while only 10 per cent is from voluntary donors, said Hasan Abbas Zaheer, the national coordinator for Safe Blood Transfusion Programme (SBTP), during a seminar held in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) to mark World Blood Donor Day. “If 20,000 to 25000 people donate their blood regularly, they can meet the needs of the entire population,” he said.
Studies show that if just the two percent of a population of a country donates blood regularly, it can meet the needs of its entire population. The importance of promoting a voluntary blood donation culture in the country is necessary as reliance on voluntary and regular blood donors would improve the blood safety standards manifold.
While healthy male adults can donate blood four times a year with a gap of three months, and up to 60 years of their age, while females can donate three times a year. It is completely safe and healthy to donate blood since one donation can save three lives.
