World Blood Donor Day

World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) is held on June 14 each year. The event was organised for the first time in 2004, by four core international organizations: the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; the International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations (IFBDO) and the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products, and to thank blood donors for their voluntary, life-saving gifts of blood. World Blood Donor Day is one of 11 official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Chagas Disease Day, World Tuberculosis Day, World Immunization Week, World Patient Safety Day, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Hepatitis Day, World Antimicrobial Awareness Week and World AIDS Day.

Background

Transfusion of blood and blood products helps and save millions of lives every year. It can help patients who 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 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.In many countries, there is not an adequate supply of safe blood, 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. The WHO's goal is for all countries to obtain all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors by 2020. In 2014, 60 countries have their national blood supplies based on 99-100% voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 73 countries still largely dependent on family and paid donors.

History

World Blood Donor Day is celebrated every year by people around the world on June 14. It is celebrated on the birthday anniversary of Karl Landsteiner on June 14, 1868. Landsteiner was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the ABO blood group system.

Importance

Blood is a necessary resource for the planned treatments and the urgent interventions. It is helpful for patients who are suffering from life-threatening conditions for living longer and with a higher quality of life. It supports complex medical and surgical procedures.

Themes

2023: Give Blood, Give Plasma, Share Life, Share Often, The theme for World Blood Donor Day 2023 is “Give Blood, Give Plasma, Share Life, Share Often”. This theme reflects the important role blood donors play in maintaining the health and well-being of communities around the world. The slogan for 2023 World Blood Donor Day campaign, celebrated on 14 June 2023, is “Give blood, give plasma, share life, share often.” It focuses on patients requiring life-long transfusion support and underlines the role every single person can play, by giving the valuable gift of blood or plasma. It also highlights the importance of giving blood or plasma regularly to create a safe and sustainable supply of blood and blood products that can be always available, all over the world, so that all patients in need can receive timely treatment.

The objectives are to:

celebrate and thank individuals who donate blood and encourage more people to become new donors;

encourage people in good health to donate blood regularly, as often as is safe and possible, to transform the quality of life for transfusion dependent patients and help to build a secure blood supply in all countries in the world;

highlight the critical roles of voluntary non-remunerated regular blood and plasma donations in achieving universal access to safe blood products for all populations; and

mobilize support at national, regional and global levels among governments and development partners to invest in, strengthen and sustain national blood programmes.

Activities that would help promote the slogan of this year’s World Blood Donor Day may include donor appreciation ceremonies, social networking campaigns, special media broadcasts, social media posts featuring individual blood donors with the slogan, meetings and workshops, musical and artistic events to thank blood donors, and coloring the iconic monuments red or yellow. Countries are encouraged to disseminate to various media outlets stories of people, in particular transfusion-dependent patients, whose lives have been saved through blood or plasma donation as a way of motivating blood and plasma donation.