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Government Of Assam Health & Family Welfare Assam State Blood Transfusion Council

Celebration of Blood Donation Days

Assam State Blood Transfusion Council observed the World Blood Donor Day & National Voluntary Blood Donation Day in state level & in district level

World Blood Donor Day :

World Blood Donor Day is celebrated every year by the people in many countries around the world on 14th of June. World Blood Donor Day is celebrated every year on the day of birthday anniversary of Karl Landsteiner on 14th of June in 1868. This event celebration was first started in the year 2004 aiming to raise the public awareness about the need for safe blood donation (including its products) voluntarily and unpaid by the healthy person. Blood donors are the key role player at this day as they donate life-saving gifts of blood to the needed person.

It was first initiated and established to be celebrated annually on 14th of June by “the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies” in the year 2004. World Blood Donor Day was officially established by the WHO with its 192 Member States in the month of May in 2005 at the 58th World Health Assembly in order to motivate all the countries worldwide to thank the blood donors for their precious step, promote voluntary, safe and unpaid blood donations to ensure the sufficient blood supplies.

World Blood Donor Day celebration brings a precious opportunity to all donors for celebrating it on national and global level as well as to commemorate the birthday anniversary of the Karl Landsteiner (a great scientist who won the Nobel Prize for his great discovery of the ABO blood group system

National Voluntary Blood Donation Day :

National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is getting celebrated in India at 1st of October every year to share the need and importance of the blood in the life of an individual. It was first started celebrating on 1st of October in the year 1975 through the Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology. Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology was first established at 22nd of October in the year 1971 under the leadership of Mrs. K. Swaroop Krishen and Dr. J.G. Jolly.

Objectives

  • To make aware the people all over the country about the importance of the voluntary blood donation.
  • To successfully achieve the target of Voluntary Blood Donation to fulfill the urgent need of the needy patients.
  • To store the blood in stock in blood banks for any urgent and serious requirement.
  • To promote and emphasize the self esteem of blood donors through a lot of thanks.
  • To motivate and encourage people who are not interested in donating blood even being a healthy person.
  • To stimulate people to donate blood voluntarily who are interested in donating blood only to their relatives or friends.

Transfusing or donating blood or its components to the needy person has become very important part of the humanity in the modern health care system. It does not matter who is the blood donor or blood receiver, a donor can be a receiver in the future as well as a receiver can be a healthy donor in the nearest future. So donating blood without any expectation is the great humanity and vital part in the life saving process. Do not donate blood only to your relatives or friends, donate blood to voluntarily for any human being is the real humankind as it can save many lives.

In order to prevent the blood transmitting diseases through the blood transfusion, it becomes very mandatory to carefully investigate (through the advanced testing techniques like nucleic acid testing) the every unit of collected blood to prevent the life threatening diseases such as the AIDS, syphilis, Hepatitis-B, Hepatitis-C, malaria and many more. Blood donation should be encouraged by the voluntary blood donors only as their blood is safe instead of professional or paid blood donors. Voluntary blood donors never tells a lie and become agree for advance testing of their blood as they really want to save the precious life of someone.

To make aware the people towards the blood donation, a variety of events, awareness programmes, camps and supplementary promotional activities are organized in all states at the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day.

Thalassemia Day

World Thalassemia Day is celebrated every year on 8th of May to increase the awareness about this disease among common public all through the world. Celebrating World Thalassemia Day on 8th of May was established by the World Health Organization in order to raise the public awareness about this disease, prevention measures and measures to avoid its transmission.

What is Thalassemia?

Thalassemia is an autosomal recessive blood disorders which gets inherited from parents to the children through genes. It is a blood disorder causes weakening and destruction of the red blood cells, affects the formation of hemoglobin in the body and causes mild or severe anemia. It causes complications like bone deformities, iron overload, cardiovascular illnesses, heart palpitations, enlarged liver, jaundice, enlarged spleen, enlarged bones of cheeks or forehead, delayed puberty and etc.

Around 3.4% of the people are carrier of the thalassemia and around 7000 to 10,000 children are born with thalassemia per year in India. It can be of any type such as alpha thalassemia, beta thalassemia, delta thalassemia and combination of other hemoglobinopathies (hemoglobin C, D, E and S).

It is seen among children of one or two years of life. Mild thalassemia sometimes does not show any symptoms thus can be undiagnosed until blood test (complete blood count, CBC test). It can be treated through the blood transfusion, B group vitamins supplements, iron chelation therapy and blood and bone marrow stem cell transplantation to maintain the normal level of haemoglobin and healthy RBCs.

Since, it is an inheritable disease so cannot be prevented completely however, it can be lessen through the prenatal tests which helps in the early detection and cure before the child birth. It is requested to all the carriers of thalassemia gene to meet a genetic counselor as soon as possible to get proper treatment before being a parent of child or prevent the gene to get inherited to their child.

Why World Thalassemia Day is Celebrated?

World Thalassemia Day is celebrated all across the world to help people suffering from the thalassemia and its complications in their daily life. Thalassemia is a genetically inheritable blood disorder which can affect people of any age group. It is a disease which having ability to destroy the whole nation and world by affecting a child. Children are the most important asset of the country and world who have capability to lead their nation and world thus it has become the big responsibility of the government of each country to prevent children, country and world from this fatal inheritable disease. Some of the objectives of world thalassemia day are mentioned below:

  • It is celebrate to increase the awareness about the disease among common public.
  • To develop a most effective prevention measure to have control on the disease.
  • To motivate and encourage the common public especially youths for the blood donation in order to prevent the people suffering from thalassemia.
  • To motivate doctors and other health professionals to take care of the patients especially what they need.
  • To promote the people suffering from it to come to the hospital for the early detection, prevention and cure.
  • To motivate the youths for the pre-marriage test to get diagnosed about this problem and prevent this disease to get inherited among new generations.
  • To make the community, society, nation and world free of thalassemia and other inheritable diseases.
  • To give them (people having thalassemia) equal chance of living like a normal and wellbeing person.
  • To encourage government organizations to develop more heath care facilities in the vulnerable area.
  • To reduce the death rate of people all over the world on international level because of the thalassemia.
  • To increase the number of healthy people without thalassemia or other fatal diseases in the country and world.

How World Thalassemia Day is Celebrated?

World thalassemia day is celebrated by organizing various activities and events in the public places, schools, colleges and other educational institutions to make it more effective. Patients and their families are encouraged to actively take part in the celebration to get all the knowledge about the thalassemia.

The Thalassemia International Federation (TIF), which is a non-profit and non-governmental patient-driven organization, actively involves in organizing the event celebration with its associated associations and members in many countries. World Health Organization and other health bodies all through the focuses on the patients basic rights to encourage more people with thalassemia.

Variety of activities like debates on the health related subjects, discussion over the thalassemia patient’s quality of life including health care services. Posters and banners activities are also done to aware people about this disease.

Varieties of other awareness campaigns are launched by the TIF aiming to spread the information and awareness about hemoglobinopathies, haemoglobin disorders and iron deficiency among common people especially amongst the young people. Educational materials are also distributed to the young students to raise awareness among youths.

Red Day Activities are also organized by the TIF at many places when students wear red T-shirts indicating the cartoon characters of red-blood cells showing the requirement of thalassemic patients.