World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) is celebrated every year by people around the world on June 14, it is celebrated on the birthday anniversary of Karl Landsteiner on June 14, 1868, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the ABO blood group system.

WBDD was organised for the first time in 2005, by a joint initiative of World Health Organisation, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products, and to thank blood donors for their voluntary, life-saving gifts of blood. Transfusion of blood and blood products helps and save millions of lives every year. It can help patients who suffering from life-threatening conditions live longer and with higher quality of life, and supports complex medical and surgical procedures. It also has an essential, life-saving role in maternal and perinatal care. Access to safe and sufficient blood and blood products can help reduce rates of death and disability due to severe bleeding during delivery and after childbirth. In many countries, there is not an adequate supply of safe blood, and blood services face the challenge of making sufficient blood available, while also ensuring its quality and safety. An adequate supply can only be assured through regular donations by voluntary unpaid blood donors. The WHO’s goal is for all countries to obtain all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors by 2020. In 2014, 60 countries have their national blood supplies based on 99-100% voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 73 countries still largely dependent on family and paid donors.

2025 theme: Give blood, give hope: together we save lives. The WHO honors hope, the kind you give with every drop of blood. Because millions of patients around the world rely on blood transfusions every year, hope flows through every donation.

Links:
World Blood Donor Day

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