Basilica News Agency – Iulian Dumitraşcu – 17/6/21

Every year, on June 14, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day.

The event serves to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood and to raise awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure the quality, safety, and availability of blood and blood products for patients in need, WHO reports.

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 a higher quality of life, and supports complex medical and surgical procedures.

It also has an essential, life-saving role in maternal and child care and during the emergency response to man-made and natural disasters.

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.

Focus of this year’s campaign

For 2021, the World Blood Donor Day slogan will be “Give blood and keep the world beating”. The message highlights the essential contribution blood donors make to keeping the world pulsating by saving lives and improving others’ health. It reinforces the global call for more people all over the world to donate blood regularly and contribute to better health.

A special focus of this year’s campaign will be the role of young people in ensuring a safe blood supply. In many countries, young people have been at the forefront of activities and initiatives aimed at achieving safe blood supplies through voluntary, non-remunerated blood donations. Young people form a large sector of the population in many societies and are generally full of idealism, enthusiasm and creativity.

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;
• promote the community values of blood donation in enhancing community solidarity and social cohesion;
• encourage youth to embrace the humanitarian call to donate blood and inspire others to do the same;
• celebrate the potential of youth as partners in promoting health.

“Donate Blood, Save Life”

The “Donate Blood, Save Life” campaign, initiated by the Romanian Patriarchate in 2013 and approved by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, has so far mobilized over 35,000 donors, with around 19,000 litres of the blood being harvested.

Of course, this campaign continues, hoping to encourage more Romanians to be solidary with the sick.

At this time, there is an acute need for blood in many medical units because surgical interventions are postponed in hospitals due to this lack. Thus, those who want to help resolve this crisis are urged to go and give blood at the nearest blood transfusion centers.

Photography courtesy of citybest.ro

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