TODAY IS 'World Blood Donor Day' and to commemorate the event, Dr. Lundie Richards, director of the National Blood Bank in Kingston, is encouraging more citizens to come forward and donate blood to help persons who are badly in need.
He said that his organisation took every conceivable precautionary measure to ensure that both the donor and the recipient were not at risk, stressing that the National Blood Bank's job was to assist in saving lives.
"We have to ensure that the blood that is being donated is as clean as possible... The only way to ensure that it is clean is if we have volunteer donors," he said.
To mark the day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) will be joining with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and also with the International Federation of Blood Donors.
VOLUNTARY BLOOD DONORS
According to a statement from the WHO, while millions of persons owed their lives to voluntary blood donors, a majority of the world's population did not have access to safe blood.
"Over 80 million units of blood are donated every year, but only 38 per cent are collected in developing countries where 82 per cent of the global population live," the statement said.
It stated that "many countries depend on donations by families or friends of patients who require blood and in some countries blood donors still receive payment".
Dr. Richards said that voluntary donors were the foundation of safe blood supply because they were least likely to transmit potentially life-threatening infections such as HIV and hepatitis viruses to the recipients of their blood.
Last year, more than 26,000 persons donated blood at the National Blood Bank and its centres throughout Jamaica. Today's celebrations are being done under the theme 'Blood, a Gift of Life. Thank You'.
To mark the day, the National Blood Bank will be giving small tokens to some of its donors who gave blood more than three times last year. Also, beneficiaries and donors will be sharing their experiences in regard to giving and receiving blood.
On Thursday, the Pan-American Health Organisation will be staging a blood drive. The day's activities are aimed at recognising the millions of donors around the world who have taken time to donate blood to save the lives of others.
Locally, Dr. Richards notes that less than 10 per cent of the blood donated is from volunteers. In March last year, the National Blood Bank launched a campaign dubbed, 'One Love, One Blood, Partnership for Life'. This campaign focused on the donors partnering with the blood bank to help save a life.
Dr. Richards said that through the campaign the National Blood Bank was seeking to raise the current number of blood donors to 50 per cent of the population by 2007.
