Blood donors join the Red Journey in Ca Mau (Photo: VNA) The campaign also helped expand the number of blood donors; raisedthe public’s awareness about thalassemia prevention and educated the youngergeneration about the tradition of national history and the love for thecommunity.
It is also an opportunity for the local health sector to practiseand master the process of organising blood donations in large quantities andreceiving blood safely in the context of COVID-19 prevention and control.
Participants heard about the developments at a recent conferenceheld to review 10 years of the Red Journey with the theme “ConnectingVietnamese blood” in Hanoi.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Health Minister Tran Van Thuan saidthat for the past decade the Red Journey had received responses and activeparticipation by 58 provinces and cities nationwide, receiving nearly 700,000blood units with great human values and contributing to the cause of people'shealth care.
“I highly appreciate activities and initiatives that the NationalInstitute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT), the Steering Committeefor Voluntary Blood Donation at all levels have carried out to promote thecountry’s blood donation movement more and more practically, effectively andsustainably. Many annual blood donation events like the Red Spring, Red Sundayor Red Journey festivals have contributed to spreading the voluntary blooddonation movement to the community,” said Thuan.
He also asked the Red Journey Organising Committee to continue toexpand the campaign to many localities; taking the support of the whole societyas the driving force, creating interesting communication to attract thecommunity and people to participate in blood donation.
“Vietnam has more than 96 million people while we receive morethan 1.4 million units of blood each year. It means that there are stillpatients who have not had the opportunity to access a safe and quality bloodsource and there are still children and mothers waiting for a bloodtransfusion,” said Thuan.
The deputy minister also called for further attention and supportfrom the ministries, branches, organisations, local authorities at all levelsand people from all walks of life to continue joining hands with the healthsector in voluntary blood donation activities and health care and protectionfor themselves, their families and compatriots.
In efforts to address the blood shortage every summer, the NIHBTand VTVCorp JSC jointly organised the first Red Journey in 2013, collectingmore than 17,500 units of blood in 15 provinces and cities after 22 days withsupport of 100 selected volunteers.
Each year, the Red Journey sets new records for the number oforganisation days, the number of participating localities and the number ofcollected blood units.
In 2022, the Red Journey marked a new record of 46 provinces andcities participating in 60 days, organising 507 main blood donation points andreceiving more than 120,000 blood units, seven times higher than in the firstyear of organisation.
“The amount of collected blood not only contributes to ensuring ablood source for emergency and treatment in localities during summer, but alsocontributes to blood regulation on a national scale. For the first time, nearly17,000 blood units of the Red Journey in 2021 (including 14 units of rareblood) promptly provided aid to overcome the blood shortage during the peak ofthe COVID-19 pandemic in the South,” said Dr Bach Quoc Khanh, NIHBT Directorand head of Red Journey Organising Committee period 2018-2022.
“The Red Journey has mobilised and gathered a variety of forces toparticipate in blood donation. It has called for the attention of leaders atall levels and maximum support of community.
A decade of endurance with 58 provinces and cities participating,700,000 received blood units, Red Journey has gone beyond the limits of a mereblood donation campaign, and become a humane social activity," added Khanh./.
VNA
