At the ceremony, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Ha Thanh, Director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, said that the past 30 years have been a "revolution" that has changed the awareness of tens of millions of people about voluntary blood donation. Voluntary blood donation has now become a movement with widespread influence, attracting and receiving the attention of the whole society.

If in the past, the blood donors were mainly young people and students, now the blood donors are expanded to all members of society regardless of age, gender, profession, ethnicity, religion, etc.

Before 1994, the medical sector in our country faced many difficulties, especially in the field of Hematology - Blood Transfusion. The demand for blood for emergency and treatment was seriously lacking, and there were no blood donors, leading to unsafe blood transfusion.

In 1994, the humanitarian blood donation movement was launched but the amount of blood was limited. However, since 2014, the movement has received more than one million units of blood each year. Notably, the amount of blood received in 2023 was more than 11 times higher than in 1994, the voluntary blood donation rate has now reached 99%.

At the same time, the system of Steering Committees for Voluntary Blood Donation was formed from the central to local levels; 5 regional blood transfusion centers and many regional blood transfusion centers were established, thereby improving the efficiency of blood collection, screening, and preparation of blood products. Thanks to that, patients needing blood transfusions at medical facilities in remote areas can also receive quality blood products like those at hospitals at the central level.

Appreciating the effectiveness of the humanitarian blood donation movement in the treatment of patients, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan requested the Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation at all levels, agencies and units; the Central Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion to continue to strengthen the attention and leadership of Party committees and authorities at all levels in voluntary blood donation activities; promote the role of socio-political organizations, unions, leaders and managers in mobilizing and organizing blood donation.

Units need to focus on proposing and implementing solutions to maintain and develop a more stable, substantial and sustainable source of voluntary blood donors, ensuring a safe blood source and quality treatment for patients from the central level to localities, including remote areas, border areas and islands; continue to improve the quality of propaganda, mobilization and organization of blood donation; promote mobilization of blood donors to repeat, donate blood regularly, and donate blood in volumes of 350ml or more.

In addition, the Minister of Health requested units to apply digital transformation in health care to manage blood donors and blood units; connect information, build a unified blood donor database, and connect between localities, blood centers, and hospitals that receive blood...