In commemoration of the World Blood Donor Day 2022, the World Health Organization -WHO has appealed for the involvement and support of humanity to help ensure a greater impact for the World Blood Donor Day 2022 by increasing recognition worldwide of the fact that giving blood is a life-saving act of solidarity and that services providing safe blood and blood products is an essential element of every health care system.
The global event was hosted in Mexico City on 14 June 2022 at its National Blood Centre with the theme: “Donating Blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save life.” The Day was created to highlight the following:
• raise global awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products for transfusion;
• highlight the critical contribution voluntary, unpaid blood donors make to national health systems;
• support national blood transfusion services, blood donor organizations and other non-governmental organizations 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 the transfusion of those who require it.
In a news a release by the WHO, blood and blood products were described as essential resources 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 need for blood is universal, but access to blood for all those who need it is not.
The global health body however warned that blood shortages are particularly acute in low- and middle-income countries and that the only measure to curtail it is to ensure that everyone who needs transfusion has access to safe blood and that all countries need voluntary, unpaid blood donors who give blood regularly.
According to WHO, an effective blood donor programme is characterized by the wide and active participation of the population, which is stated as been 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 normal operation of blood services is affected.
In its news release, the World Health Organization revealed that only an enabling social and cultural atmosphere with strong solidarity is capable of facilitating the development of an effective blood donor programme, and acknowledged that the act of blood donation contributes to generating social ties and building a united community.
The focus of this year’s campaign
For 2022, the World Blood Donor Day slogan is “Donating blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save lives” to draw attention to the roles that voluntary blood donations play in saving lives and enhancing solidarity within communities.
The specific objectives of this year’s campaign are to:
• thank blood donors in the world and create wider public awareness of the need for regular, unpaid blood donation;
• highlight the need for committed, year-round blood donation, to maintain adequate supplies and achieve universal and timely access to safe blood transfusion;
• recognize and promote the values of voluntary unpaid blood donation in enhancing community solidarity and social cohesion;
• raise awareness of the need for increased investment from governments to build a sustainable and resilient national blood system and increase collection from voluntary non-remunerated blood donors.
A particular activity that countries in the world are encouraged to implement for this year’s campaign is to disseminate to various media outlets stories of people whose lives have been saved through blood donation as a way of motivating regular blood donors to continue giving blood, and to motivate people in good health who have never given blood to begin doing so.
Other 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 celebrate solidarity, and colouring iconic monuments red.
