The theme of this year’s World Blood Donor Day is “Blood connects us
all”. It focuses on thanking blood donors and highlights the dimension
of “sharing” and “connection” between blood donors and patients. In
addition, we have adopted the slogan “Share life, give blood”, to draw
attention to the roles that voluntary donation systems play in
encouraging people to care for one another and promote community
cohesion.
The campaign aims to highlight stories of people whose lives have
been saved through blood donation, to motivate regular blood donors to
continue giving blood, and motivate people in good health who have never
given blood to begin doing so, particularly young people.
Background information
Every year, on 14 June, countries around the world celebrate World
Blood Donor Day. 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 the quality, safety and
availability of blood and blood products for patients in need.
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 higher quality of life, and supports
complex medical and surgical procedures. It also has an essential,
life-saving role in maternal and child care and during man-made and
natural disasters.
However, in many countries, demand exceeds supply, and blood services
face the challenge of making sufficient blood available, while also
ensuring its quality and safety. An adequate supply can only be assured
through regular donations by voluntary, unpaid blood donors. WHO’s goal
is for all countries to obtain all their blood supplies from voluntary,
unpaid donors by 2020.
Today, only 62 countries get close to 100% of their national blood
supplies from voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 40 countries still
dependent on family donors and even paid donors.
The objectives of 2017 World Blood Donor Day
- thank blood donors for their life-saving gift of blood and highlight the theme of blood connecting us all
- create wider public awareness of the need for regular, unpaid blood donation, and inspire those who have not yet donated blood to start donating, particularly young people in good health
- promote and highlight the need to share life by donating blood
- focus attention on blood services as a community service, and the importance of community participation for a sufficient, safe and sustainable blood supply
- persuade ministries of health to show their appreciation to regular voluntary unpaid donors and commit to self-sufficiency in safe blood and blood products based on 100% voluntary, unpaid donations.
