This year World Blood Donor Day is celebrated today June 14, 2020.
The event serves to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gift of blood and also to raise awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure that all individuals and communities have access to affordable and timely supplies of safe and quality-assured blood and blood products.
Blood and blood products are essential to care for:
-women with pregnancy and childbirth associated bleeding;
-children with severe anemia due to malaria and malnutrition;
-patients with blood and bone marrow disorders, inherited disorders of hemoglobin and immune deficiency conditions;
-people with traumatic injuries in emergencies, disasters and accidents; and
-patients undergoing advanced medical and surgical procedures.
Who can give blood?
Most people can give blood if they are in good health. There are some basic requirements one need to fulfill in order to become a blood donor. Below are some basic eligibility guidelines:
Age- You are aged between 18 and 65. This might differ slightly in some countries.
Weight- You weigh at least 50 kg.
Health- You must be in good health at the time you donate.
-You cannot donate if you have a cold, flu, sore throat, cold sore or any other infection.
-If you have recently had a tattoo or body piercing.
-If you have visited the dentist for a minor procedure you must wait 24 hours before donating; for major work wait a month.
Behaviors
You must not give blood:
-If you engaged in “at risk” sexual activity in the past 12 months
-Individuals with behaviors below will be deferred permanently:
-Have ever had a positive test for HIV (AIDS virus)
-Have ever injected recreational drugs.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding
It is not advisable to donate blood while breast-feeding. Following childbirth, the deferral period is at least 9 months (as for pregnancy) and until 3 months after your baby is significantly weaned (i.e. getting most of his/her nutrition from solids or bottle feeding).
The world needs enough safe blood for everyone in need. Every few seconds, someone, somewhere, needs
