Could your blood save life? Now donate on the World Blood Donation Day!

Could your blood save life? Now donate on the World Blood Donation Day!

On Saturday, June 14, 2025, the World Blood Donation Day is all about the blood donation. The aim of this day of action, which was created by the World Health Organization (WHO), is to put the importance of the blood donation into the spotlight and to sensitize the population. In La Réunion, around 19,000 people donate blood annually, which corresponds to just 4% of the population entitled to donate. This shows that there is still a lot of room for improvement. The French blood pendant institute (EFS) has already started a call for mobilization, especially during the holiday season, since there is often a lack of blood donation during these months.

currently 4,000 additional blood donors are required for La Réunion to keep the stocks at a safe level, since the current blood supply is enough for only 12 days. The regulations are clear: a single blood donation can save up to three lives, but the donors should prepare for the fact that the entire process takes about 45 minutes. Under the needs of the patients, blood groups 0 and B are very popular, which is due to diversity in the area.

donation calls and planned actions

In La Réunion, around 10,000 chronically ill patients are currently waiting for blood donation. Cancer patients who need up to 8 donors per week are particularly affected. With severe bleeding, it may even be necessary to provide up to 50 donors. Against this background, the planning of several blood donation campaigns is of great importance: Around 800 donors are expected on June 14th and 15th in Nordev, followed by events in Cimendef, Saint-Paul on June 19 and in the Henri Ganofsky high school, Saint-Joseph on June 28th. These campaigns aim to fix the grievance of blood donations.

Although the average donation frequency is 1.6 donations per year, a doubling could help to overcome the challenges. EFS is particularly looking at the younger generation under the age of 25, as 170,000 people in France leave the solidarity chain annually. In order to further increase the willingness to donate, EFS will plan Saturday collections in the future, and there are suggestions to loosen the criteria for donor recording from September 1, 2025. This could be a step in the right direction to reach more people and to include the community of blood donors.

restricted mobilization and health hurdles

Despite these initiatives, mobilization remains a challenge. Frequent health contraindications such as travel to risk areas or certain infections can lead to potential blood donors are not available. A continued acceptance of the blood donations in France is also a serious problem. Between 2008 and 2012, the number of annual blood donors was still between 1.6 and 1.7 million. Currently there are only about 1.5 million, which corresponds to a decline of 100,000 to 200,000 donors over a decade. This development is particularly worrying, since the need continues to increase due to the increase in population by 2.5 million inhabitants between 2010 and 2020.

If some progress is made, the challenge remains: The amounts of blood and plasma that are required for injured people or patients with blood diseases are often not sufficient. Therefore, anyone who agreed to donate not only could help their neighbor, but also make a valuable contribution to the community.

For more information and to register for a blood donation campaign, interested citizens can contact EFS on 02.62.90.53.92. Let us make sure that the blood reserve remains sufficient and we are there for each other.

For deeper insights into the current statistics, the infographic of Statista.com can also be viewed, which illustrates the development of the number of blood donors in France. In addition, numerous studies by Bluchtspenden.de have examined the importance and challenges of the blood donation.