World Donor Day

Today, June 14, is World Donor Day. This holiday was introduced in May 2005 at the 58th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

It was initiated by four international organizations that called for voluntary and unpaid blood donation – the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Federation of Blood Donors and the International Blood Transfusion Society.

The decision to celebrate World Donor Day on June 14 is due to the birth of Karl Landsteiner, an Austrian immunologist who discovered human blood groups and won the Nobel Prize.

World Donor Day is a day to remind humanity of mutual responsibility and the need to help those in need.

These principles themselves have been vividly implemented since the first day of the war in Ukraine, as it has become clear that there will be a great need for donors. The Odesa city authorities appealed to the citizens of the city to join the replenishment of donated blood reserves. Many residents of our city responded. They came to the blood transfusion station in Biscuit Lane and City hospital #11, forming long queues. During the 100 days of the war, the inhabitants of Odessa donated 225 litres of blood and 224 litres of plasma, which saved more than a thousand lives. There are now more than 3,000 people in the donor base, so urgent needs can be addressed in minutes.

Voluntary blood donation is another evidence of the great responsibility and patriotism of our citizens, their contribution to the fight against the occupiers and the Victory of Ukraine!