Why Do We Celebrate World Blood Donor Day?

Blood is the lifeline for various organs in the body. Normally, it is enclosed in a network of vessels that supply water to different cells in the body. That is the reason the blood loss becomes detrimental to the life in our body. If the adequate quantity of blood is given to the person under distress, his life can be saved. This is the reason why the World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to celebrate the awareness on blood donation every year. To this end, it was decided in 2004 that June 14 would be celebrated as the World Blood Donor Day on global basis. Every year WHO comes with a new theme for the campaign.

Medical Need for Safe Blood

In many countries, there is not an adequate supply of reliable blood and blood products to bring people come back into life.  Availability of genuine blood products for transfusion helps in reducing the mortality and disability while undergoing risky procedures. The blood from donors helps the patients in a number of situations. They are enumerated below.

•  Replacement: Some people unfortunately develop life-threatening conditions in some medical situations. For instance, people suffering from leukemia, sickle cell anaemia, etc. require regular blood transfusion to sustain life in their body. They need to be given safe blood until a permanent correction procedure is done on them.
• Support: While doing the complex medical and surgical procedures, the blood needs to be given as the body needs some time to recoup its resources to make fresh blood.
• Maternal and Perinatal Care: The women passing through pregnancy some time require the blood to replenish the blood loss. It is even needed when they pass through risky delivery.

Need for Raising Awareness

Though many people principally agree to donate the blood, they don’t finally end up doing that due to some misconceptions they have. They are under the impression that the blood they donate will not be replaced and they might end up in a soup. Unless there is a steady stream of genuine donors, there is no guarantee that safe blood and transfusion products can be obtained from reliable sources. Hence, the people have to be educated about the need for the blood donation to bring back life in people whose blood has been lost or contaminated due to one reason or the other. Moreover, people need to be told that they should voluntarily agree donate the blood without expecting any compensation. Only through this approach can we increase the number of blood donors to meet the huge demand.

Campaign through World Blood Donation Day

The need for the inculcation of a noble thought in the minds of people to go for voluntary donation of blood has been found globally. In order to teach the people the nobility of blood donation, the WHO has been running a global campaign with the help of local government and non-government organizations. The world body in healthcare has roped in reputed hospitals, doctors, paramedical staff, social workers and other stakeholders to conduct classes and roadside campaigns through flex boards and other marketing collaterals. It has to be done regularly every year. Hence, it has identified June 14 every year as the world campaign day to boost safe blood donation. WHO has set for itself an ambitious target of arranging enough blood donors for various medical needs in all its member countries by the year 2020. According to the world healthcare body study in 2014, about 60 member countries have been able to arrange 99-100% voluntary and unpaid blood donations. The same study has also pointed out that the population in 73 member countries still depends upon the blood donations from immediate family members and friends.