Not all heroes wear capes
The day celebrated worldwide on 14 June serves to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.
TODAY marks World Blood Donor Day and the South African Blood Service (SANBS) has encouraged regular donors to keep at it, saying their blood saves thousands of lives. The day celebrated worldwide on 14 June serves to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.
It is also aimed at raising awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure the quality, safety and availability of blood and blood products for patients in need.
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In a statement the SANBS said: “Transfusion of blood and blood products helps save millions of lives every year. It can help patients suffering from life-threatening conditions live longer and with a higher quality of life, and supports complex medical and surgical procedures. It also has an essential, life-saving role in maternal and child care and during the emergency response to man-made and natural disasters.”
The theme for this year’s campaign is blood donation as an action of solidarity. This theme is aimed at highlighting the fundamental human values of altruism, respect, empathy and kindness which underline and sustain voluntary unpaid blood donation systems.
“We have adopted the slogan, “Be there for someone else. Give blood. Share life”, to draw attention to the roles that voluntary donation systems play in encouraging people to care for one another and generate social ties and a united community,”said SANBS.
The campaign also aims to highlight stories of people whose lives have been saved through blood donation, as a way of motivating regular blood donors to continue giving blood, and to motivate people in good health who have never given blood to begin doing so, particularly young people.
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