World Blood Donor Day 2014: “Safe Blood for saving Mothers”
Every year, on 14 June, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day. The event, established in 2004, serves to raise 
awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.
Transfusion of blood and blood products helps save millions of lives every year. It can help patients suffering from life-threatening conditions live longer and with higher quality of life, and supports complex medical and surgical procedures.
The focus of this year’s World Blood Donor Day campaign is “Safe blood for saving mothers”. Every day, about 800 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications. Severe bleeding during delivery and after childbirth is a major cause of mortality, morbidity and long-term disability. The goal of the campaign is to increase awareness about why timely access to safe blood and blood products is essential for all countries as part of a comprehensive approach to prevent maternal deaths.
An adequate supply can only be assured through regular donations by voluntary unpaid blood donors. Green Cameroon joins WHO whose goal is for all countries to obtain all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors by 2020. Today, in just 62 countries, national blood supplies are based on close to 100% voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 40 countries still dependent on family donors and even paid donors.
Green Cameroon wants to encourage all countries to highlight stories from people whose lives have been saved through blood donation, as a way of motivating regular blood donors to continue giving blood and people in good health who have never given blood, particularly young people, to begin doing so.
The objectives of these campaigns are to thank blood donors for their life-saving donations; promote voluntary unpaid blood donation; and convince ministries of health to commit to achieving self-sufficiency in safe blood and blood products based on 100% voluntary unpaid blood donation.
For us to meet our goals, we need to carry out activities like Fundraising which plays a big part on world blood donor day, special luncheons, dinners and other meals may be held as a way to raise research money for safe transfusions. Other events can include fundraiser walks, parades and family activities. We also encourage people to come up with posters on T-shirt, mug, pen, tag, hall banner, wallpaper, Cap, advertisement banner, folder cover, button, cap, car stamp
This day is also a special opportunities to help raise public awareness of blood donations in the form of ads, announcements and free educational events. Some communities may even offer opportunities for free blood donations to be carried out.
No matter where you are, who you are, and how you would do it, remember you have it as a duty to contribute towards the promotion of blood donation. Don’t wait for a miracle try being a miracle.
Happy world Blood Donor day 2014
Njeke Joshua Egbe, Green Cameroon
