Blood donors join the Red Journey in Ca Mau (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – “” (Red Journey), the
country’s largest-scale blood donation campaign, has contributed to raising
awareness about voluntary blood donation and handling blood shortages over the
past 10 years.
The campaign also helped expand the number of blood donors; raised
the public’s awareness about prevention and educated the younger
generation about the tradition of national history and the love for the
community.
It is also an opportunity for the local health sector to practise
and master the process of organising blood donations in large quantities and
receiving blood safely in the context of COVID-19 prevention and control.
Participants heard about the developments at a recent conference
held to review 10 years of the Red Journey with the theme “Connecting
Vietnamese blood” in Hanoi.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Health Minister Tran Van Thuan said
that for the past decade the Red Journey had received responses and active
participation by 58 provinces and cities nationwide, receiving nearly 700,000
blood units with great human values and contributing to the cause of people’s
health care.
“I highly appreciate activities and initiatives that the National
Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT), the Steering Committee
for at all levels have carried out to promote the
country’s blood donation movement more and more practically, effectively and
sustainably. Many annual blood donation events like the Red Spring, Red Sunday
or Red Journey festivals have contributed to spreading the voluntary blood
donation movement to the community,” said Thuan.
He also asked the Red Journey Organising Committee to continue to
expand the campaign to many localities; taking the support of the whole society
as the driving force, creating interesting communication to attract the
community and people to participate in blood donation.
“Vietnam has more than 96 million people while we receive more
than 1.4 million units of blood each year. It means that there are still
patients who have not had the opportunity to access a safe and quality blood
source and there are still children and mothers waiting for a blood
transfusion,” said Thuan.
The deputy minister also called for further attention and support
from the ministries, branches, organisations, local authorities at all levels
and people from all walks of life to continue joining hands with the health
sector in voluntary blood donation activities and health care and protection
for themselves, their families and compatriots.
In efforts to address the blood shortage every summer, the NIHBT
and VTVCorp JSC jointly organised the first Red Journey in 2013, collecting
more than 17,500 units of blood in 15 provinces and cities after 22 days with
support of 100 selected volunteers.
Each year, the Red Journey sets new records for the number of
organisation days, the number of participating localities and the number of
collected blood units.
In 2022, the Red Journey marked a new record of 46 provinces and
cities participating in 60 days, organising 507 main blood donation points and
receiving more than 120,000 blood units, seven times higher than in the first
year of organisation.
“The amount of collected blood not only contributes to ensuring a
blood source for emergency and treatment in localities during summer, but also
contributes to blood regulation on a national scale. For the first time, nearly
17,000 blood units of the Red Journey in 2021 (including 14 units of rare
blood) promptly provided aid to overcome the blood shortage during the peak of
the pandemic in the South,” said Dr Bach Quoc Khanh, NIHBT Director
and head of Red Journey Organising Committee period 2018-2022.
“The Red Journey has mobilised and gathered a variety of forces to
participate in blood donation. It has called for the attention of leaders at
all levels and maximum support of community.
A decade of endurance with 58 provinces and cities participating,
700,000 received blood units, Red Journey has gone beyond the limits of a mere
blood donation campaign, and become a humane social activity,” added Khanh./.
Source: VietnamPlus
