TEHRAN – Iran Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO) has launched a campaign to help children get familiar with the altruistic act of donating blood and promote the culture of blood donation.

The campaign titled ‘Dad gave blood’ started concurrently with Teacher’s Day on Saturday, May 2, IBTO website quoted Mohammad Shahzade-Safavi, an official with the organization, as saying.

Inspired by beautiful shared childhood memories, the campaign aims to create a bond between past and new generations. ‘Dad gave water, and Dad gave bread’ are memorable sentences in textbooks in elementary school a few decades ago, which evoke great nostalgia, he noted.

The main objective of the campaign is to change the attitude of the future generation towards blood donation. ‘Dad gave blood’ reminds people of their social and human responsibilities, the IBTO intends to convey an important message to the new generation, said the official.

Highlighting the role of early childhood education in children’s social development, he said: “We aim to institutionalize the culture of blood donation in children.”

The campaign is planned to serve as a platform for the interactions of families, teachers, and students to make blood donation a social responsibility and part of the culture.

Some 1.7% of Iranians donate blood regularly

Around 1.7 percent of the country’s population donates blood regularly, and the blood donation index is 28 per 1,000 population, an official with IBTO said in January.

The average amount of blood storage in the country is sufficient for five days, but it can be increased to eight days, IRNA quoted Ahmad Qarah-Baghian as saying.

Blood donations are always needed. The life of some patients, such as those suffering from hemophilia and thalassemia, depends on regular blood transfusions, the official noted.

With an increase in life expectancy in Iran, which is currently 75 years, and a structural change in the population’s average age, the need for blood and its products will significantly increase in the future, he added.

Referring to Iran’s transition into an aging country and the fact that about 30 per cent of the death tolls in traffic accidents are due to lack of access to blood transfusion, Qarah-Baghian said young healthy individuals, aged below 25, need to be encouraged to donate blood regularly, and women’s contribution should increase from 5 to 35 per cent.

The official went on to say that people can even only donate platelets, as platelets can be stored for only about three days, while the product is vital for many patients.

A total of 1,621,911 Iranians donated blood in the first eight months of the current Iranian year, which started on March 21, according to an official with the IBTO.

The highest blood donation growth was recorded in the provinces of Zanjan (around 12 percent), Sistan-Baluchestan (over nine percent), and Fars (more than seven percent), Mehr news agency quoted Babak Yektaparast as saying.

Tehran province accounted for 17 percent of the total blood donation in the same period. Fars and Isfahan provinces donated, respectively, more than seven percent and almost six percent of the total blood donation in eight months.

Women’s share of blood donation in the country is around five percent, he noted.

The official went on to say that over the past eight months, the continuous blood donation growth rate in the country has been 55 percent.

MT/MG