World Blood Donor Day 2007 "Safe Blood for Safe Motherhood"

On 14 June 2007, the global community celebrated World Blood Donor Day. This day is an annual event officially designated by the World Health Assembly to recognize and thank the millions of people around the world who donate their blood on a voluntary, altruistic unpaid basis to help save the lives and improve the health of others. The day will encourage more people to become voluntary blood donors and will underline the importance of regular donation to prevent blood shortages. It will also demonstrate a renewed commitment by policy makers and health professionals to work towards making safe blood transfusion available for all patients who require it as part of their treatment.

This year, the theme of World Blood Donor Day is Safe Blood for Safe Motherhood which highlights the life-saving role of safe blood transfusion in maternal and perinatal care. It will also introduce a new WHO initiative to improve the timely availability of safe blood in health facilities providing emergency obstetric care, particularly in countries with high maternal mortality, and on measures to reduce unnecessary transfusions.

World-wide there are more than 500 000 maternal deaths each year, 99% of them are in developing countries. Around 34% of maternal deaths in Africa, 31% in Asia and more than 21% in Latin America and the Caribbean are attributable to haemorrhage. The risk of developing complications due to haemorrhage is further increased in pregnant women with underlying conditions such as anaemia, sepsis, malaria, HIV/AIDS and female genital mutilation.

Improved access to safe blood transfusion can help to prevent the death and improve the health of millions of women and their newborns and is a vital component of global efforts to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals.