June 14 — World Blood Donor Day

This is a holiday for people with the best spiritual qualities who donate a piece of their blood to save the lives of others.

World Blood Donor Day was established in 2005 at the 58th session of the World Health Organization. The day of celebration was chosen in connection with the date of birth of June 14, 1868, of the Austrian immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate Karl Landsteiner, who received it in 1930 for the discovery of human blood groups, which allowed blood transfusion to become a common medical practice.

In Ukraine, donation is a vivid and expressive manifestation of an active civic position of a person. With the beginning of a full-scale war, the need for blood increased by approximately 60%. Every day, help is needed for wounded defenders and civilians affected by hostilities.

Over the past three years, thousands of Ukrainians have joined the donor movement. Many employees and graduates of Odessa National Medical University willingly donate healing drops of their blood to the wounded and sick every month at the city’s Blood Transfusion Centers and during the University Donor Days.

We thank all our true heroes for their sincere, caring position, and for their desire to come to the rescue. Thanks to you, hundreds of patients get a chance to recover. You save lives!

May the good you give be returned a hundredfold. Good health and lots of vitality!

We are proud of you!