Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
I would like to thank the Government of Australia for hosting this global event for World Blood Donor Day 2009 and for inviting me to give this keynote address. The World Blood Donor Day 2009 celebration coincides with the Australian Year of the Blood Donor, organized by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, together with the Department of Health and Ageing, to mark the country's long and outstanding commitment to 100% voluntary non remunerated blood and plasma donations.
In 2000, WHO accorded the highest priority to blood safety with a thought provoking slogan — “Safe blood starts with me: blood saves lives”. The World Health Assembly in 2005 designated 14 June of each year as World Blood Donor Day. On this day, we recognize the “gift of life” made possible by voluntary blood donors, and organizations around the world celebrate and thank those who donate blood regularly. Millions of people owe their lives to these dedicated individuals. The theme of this year’s World Blood Donor Day is “100% voluntary non remunerated donations”.
This theme is designed to provide an opportunity for all countries to focus on specific challenges to be addressed and to support national blood programmes in building a stable base of voluntary unpaid donors who make a long-term commitment to blood donation.
We all recognize that blood transfusion is an essential part of health care, and blood needs to be safe, readily available and rationally used. However, majority of the world's population does not have access to safe blood. In the presence of changing demographics, the widening gap between demand and supply places even greater pressure on the availability of safe blood, with women and children being the most vulnerable groups. Severe bleeding during delivery or after childbirth is the most common cause of maternal mortality. Access to safe blood could help to prevent up to one quarter of maternal deaths each year. Many lives are also lost due to the lack of safe blood needed to treat life-threatening anaemia, dengue and trauma victims, among others.
It has been more than 30 years since the World Heath Assembly first addressed blood safety, and considerable progress on this front has been made in recent years. Despite those efforts, equitable access to safe blood and blood products and the rational and safe use of blood transfusions still remain as major challenges throughout the world. WHO estimates that more than 80 million units of blood are donated every year.
Even though the international public health community continues to advocate for safe blood practices, many countries still depend upon paid blood donations. And some countries don't screen blood units for HIV and hepatitis B and C.
The safest way to achieve this is by taking blood from regular, voluntary, non remunerated donors from low-risk population groups and by making sure that not a single unit of blood is released without being tested for these infections.
World Blood Donor Day provides an opportunity to address these issues, share experiences, develop future plans for strengthening blood programmes, and seek innovative approaches to community and youth participation. Blood cannot be artificially synthesized; our fellow human beings are our only source of this life-saving product. Therefore, maintaining a strong, continuous voluntary blood donor pool is critical.
World Blood Donor Day is jointly celebrated by four core agencies including WHO, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Society of Blood Transfusion, and the International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations. Our collective aim is to raise awareness about the need for regular and voluntary blood donations.
WHO will continue to provide technical support to global efforts to augment the availability of safe blood. We are also committed to working closely with the other organizations to promote voluntary blood donations. Let us all work together to engage governments and our communities to make the availability of safe blood a reality. We are here today to promote the act of voluntary non remunerated blood donations, which is an altruistic, humanitarian act, carried out in our own communities. We encourage blood donors and potential donors to make blood donations a regular part of their lives. The ultimate goal is for every country to achieve 100% voluntary and unpaid blood donations. Together we can strive towards the ultimate aim of ensuring universal access to safe blood and blood products.
I once again thank the Government of Australia for giving me this opportunity to address such a distinguished audience.
Thank you.