World Blood Donor Day is observed across the globe on June 14 each year. The main objective of celebrating World Blood Donor Day is to raise awareness of safe blood products and blood for transfusion. It is also celebrated to highlight the major contribution unpaid and voluntary blood donors make to the national health systems. World Blood Donor Day also provides an opportunity to all the national, government, and private health authorities to put adequate resources and infrastructures in place for voluntary and unpaid blood donors.

For better public health and care, safe blood and blood products are very important. Every day, several blood donors save millions of lives and improve the quality of life of many patients. Blood donation is considered to be one of the noblest causes. The need for blood is high across the world; however, the access to blood is less. Particularly, in developing countries, blood shortages are acute. Thus, all countries need unpaid, voluntary donors who give blood regularly to ensure that everyone who needs safe blood has access to it.

This year, the World Blood Donor Day slogan will be “Give blood and keep the world beating”. The slogan highlights the critical contribution blood donors make to save lives and improve the health of millions of people. It also urges people from all over the world to contribute to better health and donate blood regularly. According to WHO, this year, Italy will host World Blood Donor Day through its National Blood Centre. On June 14, 2021, the global event will be held in Rome. Now, let us know about the host countries for the last 5 editions of World Blood Donor Day.

World Blood Donor Day (2020)

The World Blood Donor Day 2020 was celebrated online due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rwanda (2019)

The host country for World Blood Donor day 2019 was Rwanda. The global event was held in Kigali, Rwanda on 14 June 2019.

Greece (2018)

Greece was the host country for World Blood Donor Day 2018, through the Hellenic National Blood Centre. The global event was held in Athens on June 14, 2018.

Vietnam (2017)

Vietnam was the host country for World Blood Donor Day 2017 through its National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT). The Global event was held in Hanoi on June 14, 2017.

Netherlands (2016)

Netherlands was the host country for World Blood Donor Day 2016 through Sanquin, the national blood supply organization. The global event was held in Amsterdam on June 14, 2016.

Despite limited mobility and other challenges, blood donors in several countries have continued to donate blood and plasma for transfusion throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, it is extremely important for us to raise awareness about the importance of blood donation on this World Blood Donor Day 2021.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 13, 2021 04:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).