The
Newsletter of the Pan American Health Organization - August
2006Blood Donor Day Salutes Volunteers
Jacqueline Johnson (left), Miss North Dakota, USA, received a certificate of recognition for her promotion of blood donation from PAHO Director Mirta Roses on World Blood Donor Day. © Armando Waak/PAHO
Fourteen volunteers from throughout the Americas were honored for their support of voluntary, unpaid blood donation during the Pan American Health Organization's (PAHO) observance of World Blood Donor Day, June 14.
The volunteers have all worked hard to encourage voluntary, periodic blood donation—the key to safe blood supplies. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that 100 percent of countries' blood supplies should come from voluntary, unremunerated donors. PAHO earlier set an interim goal of 50 percent for its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to achieve during 2000–2004.
"Thanks to the work of these and many others, 11 countries of the Americas have reached the [50 percent] goal," said PAHO Director Mirta Roses in presenting special certificates to the 14 volunteers.
Those honored in the ceremony included:
- Fernando Lopes de Melo, a young Brazilian who helped organize a recruitment drive that signed up more than 57,000 volunteer blood donors in Brazil this past April.
- Jacqueline Johnson, Miss North Dakota (USA), who launched a blood donation awareness drive that reached some 60,000 people in her state.
- Carl L.T. Brown, of the Cayman Islands, a marketing expert who began donating blood at age 18 and who works tirelessly to promote voluntary donation.
- Ivan Oliveira, of Suriname, a teacher who has donated blood 56 times and has recruited many students.
- Tessa Russomando of Uruguay, a blood donor for 30 years who helped create a blood bank in her country.
Regular, unpaid voluntary donors are crucial to a safe and sustainable blood supply because they are less likely to lie about their health status and more likely to keep themselves healthy. WHO data show that the percentage of people who donate blood voluntarily is 15 times greater in high-income than in low-income countries, even though developing countries have greater blood needs.
More than a million lives are lost each year in the developing world to conditions that require blood transfusions, such as severe malaria-related anemia in children and complications of childbirth.
Despite PAHO/WHO recommendations, most developing countries depend on paid donors and family "replacement donation" for most of their blood supplies. A recent WHO survey shows that 56 of 124 countries who responded to the survey were able to increase unpaid voluntary donation between 2002 and 2004. Over half made no progress or saw a decline in unpaid voluntary donors. Only 49 countries have reached the goal of 100 percent unpaid voluntary blood donation, and of these, only 17 are developing countries.