AsianScientist (Jun. 15, 2011) – The number of countries collecting all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors increased by more than 50 percent between 2002 and 2008, according to new global data from the World Health Organization (WHO) released yesterday on World Blood Donor Day.
World Blood Donor Day is celebrated each year to highlight the contribution voluntary unpaid blood donors make to public health. This year’s slogan, “More blood, more life” aims to encourage still more people to come forward to give blood and save more lives.
“Nine years ago, 39 countries were obtaining all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors: in 2008 that figure had gone up to 62. We hope that World Blood Donor Day will encourage more people in more countries to become regular voluntary blood donors,” says Dr. Neelam Dhingra, Coordinator, Blood Transfusion Safety at WHO.
In 70 countries, voluntary unpaid blood donations rose by more than 10 percent between 2007 and 2008. India reported the greatest increase, from 3.6 million to 4.6 million. Other countries reporting substantial increases over the same period include Japan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam in Asia.
The WHO data reveals new information about the gender and age of donors. Some 100 countries provide data on gender, revealing that 70 percent of all blood donations are collected from male donors. Just 25 countries collect more than 40 percent of their blood supplies from female donors, such as Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.
And in 16 countries, less than 10 percent of donations come from female donors.
In richer countries, donors tend to be older (over 44). In low- and middle-income countries, they are younger (under 25), which may be due to an overall younger population, said Dhingra.
The WHO estimates that blood donation by at least one percent of the population is generally sufficient to meet a country’s basic requirements for safe blood. Requirements are higher in countries with more developed health systems.
Among the greatest needs are to replace blood lost in childbirth (a major cause of maternal deaths worldwide) and to treat severe anemia that threatens the lives of thousands of children who have malaria or are undernourished.
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Source: World Health Organization.
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