June 14 – World Blood Donor Day

News

World Blood Donor Day is celebrated annually on June 14th around the world. The date is dedicated to the birthday of the Austrian physician and immunologist Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943), who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1930 for the discovery of human blood groups.

The first World Blood Donor Day was held on June 14, 2004. Its success led to the adoption in 2005 at the 58th World Health Assembly of a resolution according to which this day began to be celebrated annually.

World Blood Donor Day aims to raise worldwide awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products for transfusion and the importance of non-reimbursable voluntary blood donation to national health systems.

Only a healthy person can be a blood donor. Permanent contraindications are infectious (hepatitis, jaundice, etc.) and oncological diseases, diseases of the central nervous system, circulatory, respiratory, digestive organs, as well as body weight less than 50 kilograms. At the same time, hospitals require all blood types.

The Human Rights Ombudsman in the DPR calls on citizens not to be indifferent to this issue and to take the initiative. Donating blood is especially relevant in these difficult times, when the Republic is under daily shelling from the AFU.