Every year on 14 June, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day (WBDD). The event, established in 2004, serves 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 eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Tuberculosis Day, World Malaria Day, World Immunization Week, World No Tobacco Day, World Hepatitis Day, and World AIDS Day.
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 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.
Theme of World Blood Donor Day
2017: Give Blood. Give Now. Give Often
The theme for Blood Donation Day in 2017 focus on blood donation in emergency situations. The first response when an emergency happens is "What Can You Do?" and the answer is "Give Blood. Give Now. Give Often" which is taken by World health Organization. [6]
2016: Blood connects us all
2015: Thank you for saving my life
It emphasizes thanking of blood donors who save lives every day through their blood donations and inspires more people all over the world to donate blood voluntarily and regularly with the slogan “Give freely, give often. Blood donation matters.” This year campaign pays attention to stories from people whose lives have been saved through blood donation. Activities include memorable events, meetings, publication of relevant stories on media, scientific conferences, publication of articles on national, regional and international scientific journals, and other activities that would help in encouraging the title of this year’s World Blood Donor Day.[7] The host country for World Blood Donor Day 2015 is China through its blood center in Shanghai,[8] Shanghai Blood Centre, also the WHO Collaborating Center for Blood Transfusion Services.
2014: Safe blood for saving mothers
The focus of the WBDD 2014 campaign was “Safe blood for saving mothers”. The goal of the campaign was to increase awareness about why timely access to safe blood and blood products is essential for all countries, as part of a comprehensive approach to prevent maternal deaths.
According to the World Health Organization, 800 women die every day from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. Severe bleeding is the cause of 34% of maternal deaths in Africa, 31% in Asia and 21% in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The global host for the WBDD 2014 event was Sri Lanka. Through its national blood transfusion service, Sri Lanka promotes voluntary unpaid donation to increase access to safe and sufficient blood and blood products.
2013: Give the gift of life
The focus for the WBDD 2013 campaign – which marked the 10th anniversary of World Blood Donor Day – was blood donation as a gift that saves lives. The WHO encouraged all countries to highlight stories from people whose lives have been saved through blood donation, as a way of motivating regular blood donors to continue giving blood and people in good health who have never given blood, particularly young people, to begin doing so.
The host country for World Blood Donor Day 2013 was France. Through its national blood service, the Etablissement Français du Sang (EFS), France has been promoting voluntary non-remunerated blood donation since the 1950s.
2012: Every blood donor is a hero
The 2012 campaign focused on the idea that any person can become a hero by giving blood. Blood cannot yet be manufactured artificially, so voluntary blood donation remains vital for healthcare worldwide. Many anonymous blood donors save lives every day through their blood donations.
Ø The theme of 2011 was “More blood, more life”.
Ø The theme of 2010 was “New Blood for the World”.
Ø The theme of 2009 was “achieving 100 per cent non-remunerated donation of blood and blood components”.
Ø The theme of 2008 was “Giving blood regularly”.
Ø The theme of 2007 was “Safe Blood for Safe Motherhood”.
Ø The theme of 2006 was “Commitment to Ensure Universal Access to Safe Blood”.
Ø The theme of 2005 was “Celebrating your gift of blood”.
Ø The theme of 2004 was “Blood Saves Lives. Safe Blood Starts With Me”.