Blood donors are celebrated around the world every year on June 14. They are considered superheroes in their own way because of the level of selflessness they demonstrate when they voluntarily donate blood to hospitals and health centers, saving countless lives in need of blood.
Current studies show that every few seconds, someone in the world needs blood and most blood transfusions are life-threatening emergencies.
Blood donations have saved countless lives, especially those of people in urgent need of transfusions due to a serious health crisis, although lives have been lost when hospital blood banks did not have the rare type of blood type or when there was a shortage of liters of blood needed for effective transfusions and the next blood bank from which the blood could be transported was not able to save the life of such a patient.
Blood products are therapeutic substances obtained from blood, including
Packaged red blood cells, for the treatment of anemia.
Washed red blood cells for the treatment of repeated febrile and allergic reactions.
Frozen red blood cells for the production of rare antigens.
Fresh frozen plasma (the source on blood products is an article on pediatric care).
Some countries have standardized systems for collecting and storing blood and blood products in safe and suitable conditions, while others still struggle to collect enough blood for emergency situations. Those that do have difficulty have not yet developed systems to establish blood banks or to ensure availability in all hospitals in their geographic area.
The lack of blood in most hospitals results in the loss of life of most patients who need blood transfusions to survive. Patients in this category include
Children with severe anemia,
Pregnant women whose health complications have resulted in excessive bleeding,
victims of terrible road accidents,
Victims of domestic accidents in life-threatening situations,
Patients with blood/bone marrow related diseases,
Patients undergoing surgical procedures.
The world needs safe blood and blood products, and the quality and safety of blood donations must be a priority.
Blood donors must receive quality care for their services and be encouraged to continue to donate liters of blood each month.
Donated blood must be distributed consistently and used for appropriate service. Access to safe blood and blood products is essential for effective health coverage and care of patients in need, making it important for health care systems to always have all types of blood available.