World Blood Donor Day celebrated June 14
World Blood Donor Day is celebrated every year on 14 June. This is an international event which aims to thank regular blood donors, to raise awareness of the need for safe blood donations and encourage more people to give blood on a regular basis.
It was adopted in 2005, Geneva, at the session of World Health Assembly, in honor of Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner who was born on that day, in 1868 and was rewarded with Nobel Prize in 1930 for identification of the human blood groups.
For the first time blood transfused from one person to another in 1819, in England. At present blood transfusion is widely used in various fields of medicine. Transfusion of blood components at the right time can often save human lives.
"It is important that each of us realize that the blood he/she gives may save someone else's life. The idea should be planted in people since their childhood. We should make sure that in Armenia, as in developed countries, people donate blood for free. This is a humanitarian act which should be encouraged all the time. We express our deepest respect and gratitude to all people who have given their blood to those who are in need of blood transfusion," the RA Ministry of Healthcare said in a statement.
The events for this day are regulated worldwide by WHO, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society(IFRC), the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) and International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations(IFDBO).
Every year a slogan is chosen and young volunteers make blood donations under that slogan. The slogan of this year's celebration is 'Give the gift of life, donate blood.'
