World Blood Donor Day 2010
¨New blood for the world¨
Blood transfusion is a vital component of health care. The threat to life due to insufficient blood stocks and the risk of transfusion-transmissible infections calls for a safe and adequate blood supply for all those requiring transfusion. As the need for blood increases globally, young people can make an important contribution by donating blood and by recruiting other young people to become donors.
The Fifty-Eighth World Health Assembly made a unanimous declaration of commitment and support for voluntary blood donation and Resolution WHA58.13 designated World Blood Donor Day as an annual event to be held each year on 14 June. While this day creates awareness of the importance of voluntary blood donation and encourages more people to become regular blood donors, it also celebrates and thanks all those who voluntarily donate their blood without any reward.
Announcing World Blood Donor Day, 14 June 2010
The focus of World Blood Donor Day 2010 will be on Young Donors - with the slogan: “New blood for the world”.
The need for blood is increasing in all parts of the world. Young people can make an important contribution by donating blood and by recruiting other young people to become donors.
Initiatives such as young ambassadors’ programmes, Club 25, media campaigns directed towards young audiences and other youth-oriented activities will help bring “new blood to the world”. Many activities are planned around the world to focus on the role of young people in ensuring a safe blood supply.
World Blood Donor Day takes place on 14 June each year. The aim is to raise global awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products for transfusion and of the critical contribution voluntary, unpaid blood donors make to national health systems.
World Blood Donor Day is also an opportunity to celebrate those who already donate blood, in response to the worldwide increase in demand for voluntary non-remunerated blood and plasma donations. Today, 57 countries have achieved 100 per cent voluntary blood donation, up from 39 in 2002.
Since 2004, World Blood Donor Day has been jointly sponsored by four core agencies: The World Health Organization (WHO), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations (IFBDO) and the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT). During 2009-10, IFBDO will be acting as the coordinating agency on behalf of the four core agencies to coordinate communication with any external agencies.
Each year, these core agencies identify a host country for a global event that provides a focus for an international media campaign. The event is also designed to support national level blood transfusion services, blood donor organizations and other nongovernmental organizations in strengthening and expanding their voluntary blood donor programmes and to reinforce national and local campaigns.
The 2010 global event will take place in Barcelona, Spain. It will be hosted by the Spanish and Catalonian Health Care Authorities, the Spanish and Catalonian donor associations and the Spanish Red Cross.
The scale and volume of World Blood Donor Day events increases every year. Support from government leaders and celebrities, along with media campaigns and community-based activities, results in a celebration of the selfless individuals who donate their blood and plasma to save the lives and improve the health of people whom they will never meet.
Further details about plans for World Blood Donor Day 2010 will be provided over the coming months, but we take this opportunity to remind you that all the latest information is available on the joint website of the core agencies (www.wbdd.org). Here you will also find a new Campaign “Celebrating the gift of blood” 14 JUNE 2010
Kit and the World Blood Donor Day brochure which can be downloaded and used freely by anyone who wants to promote voluntary, non-remunerated blood donation. Governmental activities will be presented on a separate WHO webpage (www.who.int/worldblooddonorday). You are invited to contribute by sharing your ideas, resource materials and plans for activities at national and local levels through these websites.
Your involvement and support will help to ensure a wide impact for World Blood Donor Day 2010 and bring the world closer to 100 per cent voluntary non-remunerated blood donation. We wish you a successful celebration.
The Melbourne Declaration on
100% Voluntary Non-remunerated Donation of
Blood and Blood Components
The Melbourne Declaration on '100% Voluntary Non-remunerated Donation of Blood and Blood Components' is founded on the policies articulated in World Health Assembly resolution WHA28.72 Utilization and Supply of Human Blood and Blood Products which urges Member States to promote the development of national blood services based on voluntary non-remunerated blood donation, and is supported by resolution WHA58.13 Blood Safety: Proposal to Establish World Blood Donor Day.
We, more than 65 experts in transfusion medicine, policy makers, government and non-government representatives from 38 countries across WHO regions met on 9-11 June 2009 in Melbourne, Australia, as participants in the Global Consultation on 100% Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donation (VNRBD) of Blood and Blood Components, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, the Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and endorse the following Melbourne Declaration:
Recognizing that safe blood and blood products and their transfusion is a critical aspect of health care and public health that save millions of lives and improve the health and quality of life of many more patients;
Recognizing the importance of protecting the welfare of blood donors and appreciating their generous donations of the gift of life;
Acknowledging that the realization of the health-related Millennium Development Goals to reduce child mortality (Goal 4), to improve maternal health (Goal 5) and to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (Goal 6) is dependent on universal access to safe blood transfusion;
Recognizing that evidence shows that regular voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors are the cornerstone of safe and sustainable national supplies of blood and blood products which are sufficient to meet the transfusion requirements of the patient population;
Acknowledging the need for sustainable national blood supplies through increasing the number of voluntary non-remunerated blood donors who donate blood regularly; Recognizing that the establishment of well-organized and managed national blood services based on 100% voluntary non-remunerated blood donations with effective quality systems will increase the safety of the blood supply by reducing the transmission of transfusion-transmissible infections;
Recognizing that all governments can achieve safe, sufficient and sustainable national blood supplies by demonstrating leadership and commitment to voluntary non-remunerated blood donation;
Believing that family replacement and paid donation can compromise the establishment of sustainable blood collection from voluntary non-remunerated blood donors;
Recognizing that the appropriate use of all blood and blood products, proper component production and optimizing the utilization of recovered plasma is important to increase the blood supply and for the motivation of blood donors.
We therefore:
Call for action to all governments to achieve 100% voluntary non-remunerated donations by 2020 as the cornerstone of their blood policies, in accordance with World Health Assembly resolutions WHA28.72 and WHA58.13;
Urge all governments to appreciate and protect all voluntary non-remunerated blood donors, develop a strategy for a stepwise progression from whole blood to the preparation of labile components and ensure that all recovered plasma is used for fractionation, thereby fully utilizing every donation;
Urge all stakeholders, at national and international levels including national blood services, national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, blood donor organizations, patient organizations, other non- and inter-governmental organizations, the health industry, the corporate sector and civic society to work together with governments in promoting and supporting the recruitment and retention of voluntary non-remunerated blood donors and mobilizing more financial resources and technical support to achieve the goal of 100% voluntary non-remunerated blood donation, in accordance with Millennium Development Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development;
Strongly support advocacy by WHO for a co-ordinated, integrated and collaborative approach to planning and policy development to ensure implementation of sustainable national blood systems;
We declare that we:
Pledge to work towards and maintain 100% voluntary non-remunerated blood donation to provide universal access to safe blood and blood products for all patients requiring transfusion therapy;
Affirm our commitment to the achievement of 100% voluntary non-remunerated blood donation and the protection of the welfare of blood donors, in accordance with the Code of Ethics for Blood Donation and Transfusion of the International Society of Blood Transfusion;
Commit to the establishment of effective and sustainable national blood services and voluntary non-remunerated blood donor programmes by working with governments and other stakeholders to formulate, adopt and implement national blood policies that are consistent with national needs and WHO technical recommendations.
Undertake to work in collaboration in international efforts to promote safe and sustainable voluntary non-remunerated blood donor programmes that foster community engagement and benefit the recipients of blood and blood products.
Note: This declaration contains the collective views of an international group of experts and participants in the Global Consultation on 100% Voluntary Non-Remunerated Donation of Blood and Blood Components, Melbourne, Australia, June 2009, and does not necessarily represent the decisions or stated policy of the World Health Organization, Australian Department of Health and Ageing, Australian Red Cross Blood Service, Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the parent organizations of participants.
WHA58.13 Blood safety: proposal to establish World Blood Donor Day The Fifty-eighth
World Health Assembly,
Recalling resolution WHA28.72 which urged the development of national blood services based on the voluntary, nonremunerated donation of blood;
Having considered the report on blood safety
Alarmed by the chronic shortage of safe blood and blood products, particularly in low- and medium-income countries;
Mindful that preventing the transmission of HIV and other bloodborne pathogens through unsafe blood and blood-product transfusions requires the collection of blood only from donors at the lowest risk of carrying such infectious agents;
Recognizing that voluntary, nonremunerated blood donation is the cornerstone of a safe and adequate national blood supply that meets the transfusion requirements of all patients;
Noting the positive responses to World Blood Donor Day, 14 June 2004, for the promotion of voluntary, nonremunerated blood donation,
1. AGREES to the establishment of an annual World Blood Donor Day, to be celebrated on 14 June each year;
2. RECOMMENDS that this blood donor day should be an integral part of the national blooddonor recruitment programme;
3. URGES Member States:
(1) to promote and support the annual celebration of World Blood Donor Day;
(2) to establish or strengthen systems for the recruitment and retention of voluntary, nonremunerated blood donors and the implementation of stringent criteria for donor selection;
(3) to introduce legislation, where needed, to eliminate paid blood donation except in limited circumstances of medical necessity and, in such cases, to require informed assent of the transfusion recipient;
(4) to provide adequate financing for high-quality blood donation services and for extension of such services to meet the needs of the patients;
(5) to promote multisectoral collaboration between government ministries, blood transfusion services, professional bodies, nongovernmental organizations, civil society and the media in the promotion of voluntary, nonremunerated blood donation; 1
(6) to ensure the proper use of blood transfusion in clinical practice so as to avoid abuse of blood transfusion, which may result in a shortage of blood and hence stimulate the need for paid blood donation;
(7) to support the full implementation of well-organized, nationally coordinated and sustainable blood programmes with appropriate regulatory systems through, in particular:
(a) government commitment and support for a national blood programme with qualitymanagement systems, by means of a legal framework, a national blood-safety policy and plan, and adequate resources
(b) organization, management and infrastructure to permit a sustainable blood transfusion service
(c) equitable access to blood and blood products
(d) voluntary, nonremunerated blood donors from low-risk populations
(e) appropriate testing and processing of all donated blood and blood products
(f) appropriate clinical use of blood and blood products;
(8) to establish a quality process for policy- and decision-making for blood safety and availability based on ethical considerations, transparency, assessment of national needs, scientific evidence, and risk/benefit analysis;
(9) to share information nationally and internationally in order to make clear the scientific, economic and social basis of national policy decisions related to blood safety and availability;
(10) to strengthen partnerships at all levels in order to accomplish these recommended actions;
4. CALLS UPON international organizations and bodies concerned with global blood safety to collaborate in promoting and supporting World Blood Donor Day;
5. INVITES donor agencies to provide adequate funding for initiatives to promote voluntary, nonremunerated blood donation;
6. REQUESTS the Director-General:
(1) to work with other organizations of the United Nations system, multilateral and bilateral agencies, and nongovernmental organizations to promote World Blood Donor Day;
(2) to work with concerned organizations to provide support to Member States in strengthening their capacity to screen all donated blood against major infectious diseases in order to ensure that all blood collected and transfused is safe.
(Eighth plenary meeting,
23 May 2005 – Committee B, first report)
Sources:
http://www.who.int/worldblooddonorday/en/
http://www.who.int/worldblooddonorday/WBDD2010English.pdf
http://www.who.int/worldblooddonorday/MelbourneDeclaration2009.pdf
http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA58/WHA58_13-en.pdf