World Blood Donor Day
14 June is celebrated across the world as the World Blood Donor Day to honour the birthday of Karl Landsteiner, who helped make modern blood transfusions possible. Established in 2004, World Blood Donation Day raises awareness about the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank blood donors for their voluntary act of humanitarianism.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 800 women die every day from pregnancy and childbirth related complications. 34% of maternal deaths in Africa, 31% in Asia and 21% in Latin America and the Caribbean is caused by severe bleeding. With these statistics in mind the theme for 2014’s World Blood Donation Day is “Safe blood for saving mothers.”
In India we face a blood shortage of almost 3 million units, according to thehealthsite.com. With only an additional two percentage of people donating blood in India, the shortage could be addressed, experts say. According to a WHO report only nine million units are collected annually in this country instead of the necessary 12 million. Delhi NCR alone faces the shortage of 10,000 units per year.
World Blood Donor Day is one of eight days marked by the WHO for global public health campaigns along with World Health Day, World Tuberculosis Day, World Immunization Week, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Hepatitis Day, and World AIDS Day.
Photo: Internet
Tathagata Mitra
2nd M.A. Mass Communication
