Blood donation saves lives

Every year countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day. The event serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.
A blood service that gives patients access to safe blood and blood products in sufficient quantity is a key component of an effective health system. The global theme of World Blood Donor Day changes each year in recognition of the selfless individuals who donate their blood for people unknown to them.

Associate Prof. Dr Phouthone Muongpak (left) visits unpaid blood donors at an event to mark World Blood Donor Day on June 14 at Lao-ITECC in Vientiane.

The theme of this year’s event was “Donating blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save lives”.
The day highlights the critical contribution that voluntary, unpaid blood donors make to national health systems and national blood transfusion services, blood donor organisations, and other non-governmental organisations in strengthening and expanding their voluntary blood donor programmes by reinforcing national and local campaigns.
The day also provides an opportunity to call to action governments and national health authorities to provide adequate resources to increase the collection of blood from voluntary, unpaid blood donors and to manage access to blood and transfusion for those who require it. On the day, encouragement was given to people who had never donated blood, to help them understand the importance of doing so in the future.
It was also encouraging to see people who had given blood in the past returning to give more and expressing the wish to do so on a regular basis, so that sufficient stocks are built up to meet hospitals’ needs.
To ensure that everyone who needs a transfusion has access to safe blood, all countries need voluntary, unpaid blood donors who give blood regularly.
An effective blood donor programme, characterised by the broad and active participation of the population, is crucial in meeting the need for blood transfusion during peacetime as well as during emergencies or disasters when there is a surge in demand for blood or when the regular operation of blood services is affected.
Speaking on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day in Laos this week, the President of the Lao Red Cross, Associate Prof. Dr Phouthone Muongpak, observed that blood is essential to life.
Blood circulates through the body and delivers essential substances like oxygen and nutrients to the body’s cells. It also transports metabolic waste products away from those cells. There is no substitute for blood and there is no factory or method to produce blood, with the exception of blood being transferred between humans.
“Blood and blood products are important for effective management of women suffering from bleeding associated with pregnancy and childbirth; children suffering from severe anaemia due to malaria and malnutrition; patients with blood and bone marrow disorders, inherited disorders of haemoglobin and immune deficiency conditions; victims of trauma, emergencies, disasters and accidents; as well as patients undergoing advanced medical and surgical procedures,” the World Health Organisation says.
‘The need for blood is universal, but access to blood for all those who need it is not. Blood shortages are particularly acute in low- and middle-income countries.”
Prof. Dr Phouthone said that only some countries are able to acquire safe and good quality blood and blood products. There are still many countries that face challenges in mobilising blood donation and making blood products that are safe and of good quality.
 In Laos, the Party and State and organisations at all levels support and participate in blood donation campaigns from the central to local levels.
Blood donation at the central level is an outstanding feature, Prof. Dr Phouthone said. This is because people from mass organisations, ministries, educational institutions, businesspeople and companies regularly donate blood to save other people’s lives.
At the provincial and district levels, blood donation is strongly promoted and is on the rise, especially in the provinces of Borikhamxay, Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Xayaboury, Khammuan and Saravan.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, blood donation centres around the country collected blood from donors on 1,318 occasions.
More than 122,900 people donated a combined total of 55,692 bags of blood, equalling 87 percent of the plan for 2021, which was set at 64,000 bags. Unpaid donors accounted for 66 percent of all donors.
As a result of people’s generosity, more than 45,000 patients received blood and many lives were saved. 
This year, the target is for 68,000 bags of blood to be collected.
Of this, 28,500 will be given to the National Blood Transfusion Centre, and 39,500 bags will be distributed to health facilities in the provinces.
There is an urgent need for more people to give blood voluntarily, without compensation, to ensure that targets are met and people do not struggle to obtain blood in an emergency.
In following years, it is planned that 5,000 bags of blood will be provided to Vientiane and the provinces each year until 2025. In order to meet blood targets, it is necessary to strengthen voluntary blood donation, provide an adequate budget, assemble the necessary equipment and bolster the responsibility of staff who oversee the supply and safety of blood stocks across the country. 
World Blood Donor Day was established in 2004 by the World Health Organisation to raise awareness of the ongoing need for blood donations to save lives.
June 14 is also the anniversary of the birth of Karl Landsteiner, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1930 for his work in classifying blood types. It was his work that revolutionised blood transfusions and led to the practice of transfusing blood between people with compatible blood types.

By Xayxana Leukai
(Latest Update June 17, 2022)