World Blood Donor Day is a day set aside for the celebration of the voluntary and unpaid blood donors around the world.

Correspondent Valentine Mbadugha sampled the opinion of some stakeholders on the significance of the day and reports that
World Blood Donor Day was first celebrated in 2004 and has continued on every fourteenth of June.

The event was initiated by World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, with an aim to raise public awareness on the need for safe blood donation, voluntary and unpaid by healthy persons.

It is also to thank all voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood and also to raise awareness on 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.

The theme for this year’s Blood Donor Day is “Blood donation and universal access to safe blood transfusion to achieve universal health coverage”.

The slogan for the campaign is “Safe blood for all.

The global event will be held in Kigali, Rwanda as the host country for 2019 World Blood Donor day.

Reacting on the significant of the day, a state Epidemiologist, Doctor Chijioke Obagha, who noted that the exercise provides a global platform to thank individuals who donate blood, encourage those who have not yet donated and to raise awareness that blood donation benefits the society as a whole.

On his part, the state chairman of Red Cross Society, Professor Peter Katchy who noted that the initiative promotes the adoption of the Club 25 approach in various countries to encourage a commitment to regular and voluntary blood donation by young people at low risk of transmitting infection through their blood

The Anambra State Secretaryb of the Red Cross Society Mr. Kingsley Okoye encouraged young people to donate blood regularly on an unpaid basis and lauded the initiative as it promotes low -risk behaviour so that individuals can protect their health and be safe to donate blood
The world blood donor day was officially established in May 2005 by the World Health Organization with one hundred and ninety-two Member States.

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