14th Red Spring Festival blood donation drive surpasses set target
The 14th Red Spring Festival, the largest blood donation drive in the country, collected more than 8,300 blood units during one week from March 1, announced the organising board on March 7.
Hanoi (VNA) –The 14th Red Spring Festival, the largest blood donation drive in the country,collected more than 8,300 blood units during one week from March 1, announcedthe organising board on March 7.
The result is 60percent higher than the initial target of over 5,000 units.
The drive, launched bythe National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT), togetherwith the Hanoi Youth Association for Blood Donation and the Hanoi SteeringCommittee for Voluntary Blood Donation, aimed to address blood shortage inhospitals after Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays.
This year, due to theimpacts of COVID-19, the festival was held at four venues, including at the NIHBT,to create optimal conditions for donors and at the same time follow preventivemeasures.
The pandemic triggereda steep decline in the number of donors and blood supply for treatment andemergency, said Chairman of the Hanoi Youth Association for Blood DonationTrinh Xuan Thuy.
The organising boardhas made thorough preparations to welcome donors so as to ensure COVID-19prevention and control, he added.
The festival, firstlaunched in 2008, had collected in excess of 93,000 blood units in total, and becomethe annual biggest blood donation event./.
Organisers expect to collect 50,000 blood units in the Chu Nhat Do 2021 (Red Sunday), a blood donation campaign that will be kicked off officially at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology in in the capital on January 17.
With Tet (Lunar New Year) approaching together with the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, blood donations to the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) have decreased.
The 14th Red Spring Festival - the year's biggest blood donation event – kicked off at a ceremony in Hanoi on February 28 with the theme “Safe blood donation – Don’t be afraid of COVID-19”.
The Red Spring Festival, a voluntary blood donation event, is taking place in the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien on March 5, with more than 300 people coming to register.
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Donors at the blood donation drive (Photo: VNA) 
