World Blood Donor Day: 7 things to know about blood donations
Every year, world blood donor day is celebrated on the 14th of June and this event is something that is not to be undermined. There is no doubt to the fact that donating blood is an act indispensible to saving lives of those in need. And not just one or two, millions of lives are saved due to this act. According to an estimate, someone in the world requires blood every two seconds. Now just imagine the huge demand and how it is met. This is the reason that World Health Organization (WHO) considers donation of blood as one of the most important acts and includes it in its key messages every year. The event, World Blood Donor Day, however, will be celebrated on June 14th next year in Italy. There are few things that we have come up with and that you should know about blood donations.
Different usage of blood donations
Around the world, blood donations are used for different purposes. Though roughly, around 120 million units of blood are donated each year but the usage is different according to regions. Those regions that have a higher socio economic status tend to use blood for purposes such as transplants, cardiovascular surgeries, accidents, tumors, and others. One thing should also be noted that people who benefit most in these regions are 65 or above years of age. However, in regions with low and middle income status, main beneficiaries are pregnant women, children with malaria, and trauma cases.
Who can donate?
While it’s important to understand what is blood donation it is equally important to understand who can donate? The criteria is extremely simple and states that anyone in between the ages of 18 and 65 having body weight greater than 50 kgs can donate. There are though some changes according to local law and can be related to certain health conditions. The safety of both, the donor and recipient, is important.
More than just blood
Your blood contains not only whole blood but a lot of different components too like red blood cells, platelets, and plasma. All of these are equally important and therefore can also be donated separately however; segmentation of these components can also be done later on. Moreover, timing for donation varies with the component that you are donating. It can be anywhere from few minutes to a whole hour.
Donate, but with care…
There are certain risk factors that should be considered on the part of the donor, such as tattoos, hepatitis B or C viruses, infections, dental procedures, and travel to countries where diseases like malaria, yellow fever, dengue, or chikengunya are prevalent.
Pharmaceutical companies have been actively taking part in spreading awareness for this cause and this year it was also the same. However, it is the duty of a common man to understand the importance of blood donation and actively participate in such activities. With an increased demand of plasma around the world in the wake of pandemic, healthcare professionals are urging recovered COVID patients to donate and save lives.
If you too, are one of the survivors then donate today and save a life
