Blood Donor Day: Facts and Insight

Do you know that every 2 seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood?, and that more than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day? What if I tell you that Just 1 donation can save up to 3 lives?

Today is World Blood Donors Day, a special day that has been set aside to raise global awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products.

for transfusion and of the critical contribution voluntary, unpaid blood donors make to national health systems. Now despite about 92 million yearly blood donations worldwide, safe blood constantly remains in high demand in developing countries. Hence the need for the World Blood Donors day.

THE BACKGROUND

World Blood Donors Day comes up annually on the 14th of June which happens to be the birthday of Karl Landsteiner (June 14, 1868). He created the ABO blood group system, which is still used today to ensure the safety of blood transfusions.

According to the World Health Organization, the day also provides an opportunity to call to action to governments and national health authorities to provide adequate resources and put into place, systems, and infrastructures to increase the collection of blood from voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors.

More thoughts on the World Blood Donors Day, from WHO gives us an insight on the focus of this year’s campaign with the slogan “Give blood and keep the world-beating”.

Focus Of The 2021 Campaign

For 2021, the World Blood Donor Day with the slogan “Give blood and keep the world beating”. Sends across a message that highlights the essential contribution blood donors make to keeping the world pulsating by saving lives and improving the health of so many individuals. It reinforces the global call for more people all over the world to contribute to better health through regular blood donations.

A special focus of this year’s campaign seeks to highlight 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 also 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 youths 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.

Ten Facts About Blood And Blood Donation

Here are some very interesting facts about blood and blood donations. Some of these facts tells us that;

The average adult has about 10 pints of blood, but a typical whole-blood donation is only 1 pint.
Giving blood will not decrease your strength.
10 pints equals the amount of blood in the body of an average adult.
Blood makes up about 7 percent of your body’s weight.
Donating whole blood takes only about 10-15 minutes.
More than 4.5 million patients need blood transfusions each year in the U.S. and Canada.
Red blood cells have a short shelf life. They only last for 6 weeks (42 days).
One unit of whole blood is roughly the equivalent of one pint.
A newborn baby has about one cup of blood in his body.
43,000 pints of donated blood are used each day in the U.S. and Canada.

For more information and advice on how to go about blood donations, consult us Favourite Doctor and also stay tuned on Favourite articles as we bring you the summary of an exclusive conversation with a Female Health Practitioner on the theme “Give blood and keep the world-beating” for the World Blood Donors Day, 20