World Blood Donor Day 14th June

Countries across the globe celebrate World Blood Donor Day on 14^th June every year. This event was started in 2004 by WHO (World Health Organisation) to thank the numerous voluntary, unpaid blood donors who help save lives every day and to raise awareness about the need for safe blood and blood products.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) undertakes eight official global public health campaigns and World Blood Donor Day is one amongst them; the others being World Health Day, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Hepatitis Day, World AIDS Day, World Tuberculosis Day and World Immunization Week.
Transfusion of blood and blood products plays a vital role in healthcare worldwide and is of extreme importance for complex medical procedures, during maternal and perinatal care, during disaster relief operations and for patients with life-threatening conditions.
A health system that ensures adequate supply of safe blood through regular, voluntary, unpaid blood donations paves the way for efficient medical care. Even today, many countries of the world lack safe and sufficient blood supply, resulting in large scale loss of life that could be prevented.
World Blood Donor Day celebrates blood donors on a global level and commemorates the birth anniversary of Karl Landsteiner- Nobel Prize winner and discoverer of the blood group system.
The theme for World Blood Donor Day 2017 was ‘Give Blood. Give Now. Give Often’; while for 2016 it was ‘Blood connects us all’.
This year, Greece is the host country for today’s global celebration, following the theme ‘Be there for someone else. Give blood. Share life.’

 Most of us take emergency medical care for granted, without realising that one unit of blood could be the difference between life and death for somebody! The World Health Organisation aims to make every country 100% self-sufficient in national blood supply through voluntary, unpaid donors; which is us. No country can achieve this target unless the citizens become regular donors.
So today, let us pledge to do our bit, to save a life and applaud those who are already making the greatest donation possible!