Save lives and celebrate blood donor month

Have you ever wondered how you can save a life?

The South African National Blood Services officially launched their blood donor month in Braamfontein on 2 June.

According to World Health Organisation, the theme of this year’s campaign is, Thank you for saving my life.

This year’s campaign will be solely focusing on thanking blood donors for saving lives.

The campaign will also highlight stories from people whose lives have been saved through blood donation, as a way of motivating regular blood donors to continue giving blood. Speaking at the launch, SANBS COO Ravi Reddy highlighted that their target this year is to receive 815 509 units of blood. However, Reddy stated that they will only achieve this if many of their present donors are able to increase the number of donations they make, and if members of the public come forward to replace donors who give generously over the years but can no longer do so.

“The one good thing that we can be proud of is that, all the blood donations that are made in South Africa come from voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors – we don’t pay donors.

“South Africa is one of only 62 countries worldwide where the entire blood supply is donated free of charge by volunteers,” Reddy added.

“No health system can do its job without a dependable supply of safe blood – it is nothing short of a miracle that this vital aspect of healthcare is in the hands of volunteers – and they never fail us,” said Reddy.

To donate blood, donors must be free of blood-borne pathogens, such as HIV and Hepatitis B to protect patients from infection.