On the fourteenth of June, 2020, the World Health Organization and all countries celebrate World Blood Donor Day.

Safe blood is needed everywhere. It is vital for both treatment and emergency medical care. It is used to prolong and improve the lives of patients suffering from deadly diseases, and to perform complex medical and surgical procedures. In addition, blood is used to treat the wounded in emergency situations of any kind (natural disasters, accidents, armed conflicts, etc.) and helps to save the lives of mothers and newborns.

But access to safe blood is still a privilege of a limited circle of people. For most low-and middle-income countries, ensuring the availability of safe blood is a difficult task, since the number of donors is small, and there is not enough equipment for blood testing. Forty-two percent of blood is collected in high-income countries, where only 16% of the world's population lives.

It is possible to provide a sufficient amount of safe blood only through its regular donation by voluntary donors. That is why in 2005 the World Health Assembly established a special day to express gratitude to donors and encourage people to donate blood more actively. The World Blood Donor Day is celebrated annually on June 14. On this day, words of gratitude are not only addressed to donors, but also events are held to raise awareness about the global needs for safe blood and how everyone can contribute to meeting them.

The 2020 campaign.

The campaign on the occasion of World Donor Day this year is dedicated to the theme "Safe blood saves lives" and is held under the slogan "Donate blood in the name of a healthy world". The company will focus on the personal contribution of each donor to the protection of the health of people around them.

Blood donation is required all over the world, because it provides access to safe and high-quality blood and its products for individual patients and the general population, both in everyday life and during emergency situations. As part of this campaign, we encourage people all over the world to save lives by voluntarily and regularly donating blood. In addition, the World Blood Donor Day and the chosen theme for it are an occasion to call on Governments, national health authorities and national blood transfusion services to allocate sufficient resources by creating the systems and infrastructure necessary to increase the volume of blood donated by voluntary donors; to expand the proper use of blood in clinics, and to create surveillance and monitoring systems for all stages of the blood transfusion chain.

This year, the company has the following goals:

to note the merits and thank the donors, as well as to encourage those who have not yet donated blood to become donors;

raise awareness of the urgent need to increase the availability of safe blood in all cases where it is necessary to save lives;

demonstrate the need to ensure universal access to safe blood transfusion and conduct awareness-raising work on the importance of blood transfusion for the provision of effective health services and achieving universal health coverage;

enlist the support of the Government and development partners at the national, regional and global levels in order to ensure that funds are invested in national blood programs, increase their effectiveness and ensure their sustainability.

Your participation and support will help to expand the impact of World Blood Donor Day 2020, to achieve wider recognition that blood donation is a life-saving act of solidarity, and services for the supply of safe blood and its products are an essential element of all health systems.

International organizations, including, in particular, the World Health Organization, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, the International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations and the International Society for Blood Transfusion, continue to work in close cooperation, directing and supporting the activities of their participants.

We encourage you to join them to make access to safe blood a reality for everyone.