My father was MBBS from then Calcutta (if survived age would have been around 100 years) and always advocated donation of blood as it saves lives of the needy. It has to be agreed that everyone loves his/her own life. Any type of donation is praiseworthy whether money or food or water or anything but blood donation as I feel is the best donation. The human being is the best creation of Almighty God and thus many things have been invented by human beings but not blood, that is, still now blood could not be invented.
Any person based on blood group can donate blood. I had the opportunity to donate blood on only one occasion. It is pertinent to mention that there are eight types of blood groups in the world. These are A, B, AB and O and each group can be either RhD positive or RhD negative, which means in total there are 8 blood groups. Further O negative blood can be used in transfusions for any type of blood group. According to MedicalNewsToday (.medicalnewstoday.com) blood donation can be done based on the following factors:
a) Whole blood donation: This donation type provides all components of the blood, including red and white blood cells, platelets, and plasma. People can provide this type of donation once every 56 days.
b) Double red cell donation: This donation collects two units of red blood cells. Donors can give this type of donation every 112 days, up to three times per year.
c) Platelet donation: People can donate platelets every 7 days, up to 24 times per year.
d) Plasma donation: People can donate plasma every 28 days, up to 13 times per year.
To create awareness about blood donation, World Blood Donor Day is observed on 14 June every year. The objective is to highlight global awareness of the importance of safe blood and blood products for transfusion so that lives of many can be saved. This Day also gives an opportunity to call to action to the 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. It has to be mentioned that “safe blood and blood products and their transfusion are a critical aspect of care and public health. They save millions of lives and improve the health and quality of life of many patients every day. The need for blood is universal, but access to blood for all those who need it is not. Blood shortages are acute in developing countries” (www.who.int/campaigns).
Focus of this year’s (2021) campaign: According to WHO, the World Blood Donor Day slogan in 2021 is “Give blood and keep the world beating”. It is evident from the message that blood donors help by saving lives and improving others’ health and thus they are heroes. It emphasizes the global call for more people all over the world to donate blood regularly.
A special focus of this year’s campaign is the role of young people in ensuring a safe blood supply. As per WHO, 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 main objectives of this year’s campaign are:
“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”.
Before conclusion it may be mentioned that Italy is the host of World Blood Donor Day 2021 through its National Blood Centre and the event is being held in Rome today i.e. on 14 June 2021.
On this day, I request our youths who are medically fit to please donate blood and save the lives of others. For such activity, Almighty God will bless to the donors,
The following websites have been consulted while writing the article:
Dr. Shankar Chatterjee, Hyderabad, 14 June 2021
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