UNPAID BLOOD DONATIONS RISE MOST IN INDIA: WHO
In one of the global data presented by the World Health Organization (WHO), India recorded an astonishing increase in unpaid blood donations from 3.6 million to 4.6 million and in major countries there has been an increase of 10 per cent between 2007 and 2008. The report also suggests that there has been a remarkable increase of more than 50 per cent between 2002 and 2008.

Further, from the details of donations from 100 countries it was revealed that 70 per cent of the donors were males and just 25 countries collect more than 40 per cent of their blood supplies from female donors.

Dr Neelam Dhingra, Coordinator, Blood Transfusion Safety at WHO stated the goal is obtaining blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donations by 2020 for all countries. And also hoped the World Blood Donor Day would encourage people in more countries to become regular voluntary blood donors.

Economic status also proved to be a dependant factor for difference in age group of Blood donors. Data on 77 countries proved that in high income countries, only 27 per cent of donations are from the under-25 age group while 40 per cent of donations are collected from donors older than 44 years old. In low income countries, almost half (45 per cent) of all donations come from people under 25, and 18 per cent from the over 44-age group. And one of the reasons for more younger donors is that the overall population tends to be younger.

Report by Sumit