Great Start to Joy of Giving Week - Shridhar University Pilani Students Do Voluntary Blood Donation
The Joy of Giving Week October 2 to October 8 is a new national movement that aims to engage every single Indian in giving back to society in some way or other.
Online, October 8, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Donation of Blood is a gesture of Goodwill and Care for the fellow human beings. There is no Gift more valuable than this, as it is actually a gift of life for the person who receives it. Blood is replaceable but a life is not. Access to safe blood is a key component of effective health care and voluntary donors are the cornerstone of a safe blood supply.
Ten countries account for 65% of the global blood collection; in order of magnitude United States of America is top ranking followed by China, India, Japan, Germany, Russian Federation, Italy, France, Republic of Korea and United Kingdom. India had reported the greatest increase in the number of voluntary unpaid blood donations from 3.6 million in 2007 to 4.6 million in 2008.
Voluntary unpaid blood donors are vital for ensuring a sufficient, stable blood supply. No one has doubt that a well-established voluntary unpaid blood donor programme can indeed contribute to a significant reduction in the risk for infections such as HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis. The World Health Organization's - WHO goal is for all countries to obtain all blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors by 2020.
It is an irony that despite nation with a billion population, against an annual requirement of 8 million units of blood, India today is able to collect only 5.6 million units of which only about 3 million units are from voluntary blood donors. India has just about 4 voluntary blood donors per 1000 population as against 70 in Japan and 113 in Switzerland.
It is expected in general that about 1 - 3% of a country's population should donate blood voluntarily to meet the entire demands of the country. In India age 18 - 24 constitutes highest 52.83% of blood donors followed by age 25 - 44 (28.38%) and age 45 -64 (18.78%). While female donors account for 40% or more of the blood supply in 25 countries, India has among its donors 94.0% males and 6% females.
While the World Blood Donor Day - WBDD is observed on June 14 every year, the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is observed in India on October 1. Faculty and students of Shridhar University Pilani Rajasthan have taken up voluntary blood donation on a regular basis as a mission with passion. In the last one year they did four rounds of blood donation on June 14, 2010, October 1, 2010, April 10, 2011 and June 14, 2011.
To mark the celebrations of National Voluntary Blood Donation Day which was observed all over India on 1 October, Prof BR Natarajan Pro Vice Chancellor led a faculty - student team which included half a dozen first time donors from Shridhar University to the blood bank at Birla Sarvajanik Hospital Pilani for voluntary blood donation. Prof Bir Singh of Shridhar University coordinated the organization of this camp.