HONOURABLE MINISTER CHEN ZU
MR WANG WEI (Executive Vice President, Red Cross Society of China)
MR CHEN XINNIAN (Deputy Director, Division of Health General Logistics Department, Chinese People’s Liberation Army
DISTINGUISHED GUESTS,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
It is an honour to be with you here in Shanghai to celebrate World Blood Donor Day.
Similar events are being celebrated in towns and cities all over the world because the need for blood is truly global.
I would like to thank the Government of China for hosting World Blood Donor Day here at the 2010 World Expo and for inviting me to give the inaugural address.
The focus for World Blood Donor Day 2010 is our young people, with the slogan:
"New Blood for the World". Recruiting and retaining young donors improves the long-term safety and sufficiency of a country’s blood supply.
Millions of people owe their lives to the dedicated individuals who donate blood.
We all know why it is so important for blood donations to be 100% voluntary and non-remunerated.
Voluntary blood donors are the foundation of safe, sufficient and sustainable blood supplies.
They donate blood for altruistic reasons, seeking no reward except personal satisfaction and a sense of well-being.
They have no reasons to conceal any information about why they may be unsuitable to donate blood and have the lowest prevalence of transfusion-transmittable infections compared with blood from paid donors or supplied by a patient's family members.
Last year, the Melbourne Declaration called on all countries—rich and poor—to achieve 100% voluntary donation of blood and blood components by 2020.
This is an ambitious target, but it is realistic.
We have made much progress in the last five years with 11 countries in the Asia Pacific region having doubled their numbers of voluntary blood donations.
However, the most recent data available show that in 2007, five countries still collected more than 75% of their blood supplies from replacement donors provided by a patient's family members, which is not as safe as voluntary donations.
And six countries in the region still report collecting blood from paid donors; 12 countries report collecting less than 10 donations per 1000 population.
World Blood Donor Day provides us an opportunity to address these challenges, to find ways to maintain a strong continuous voluntary blood donor pool, to develop future plans for strengthening blood programmes, and to seek innovative approaches to community and youth participation.
The global partners in this event—WHO, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Society of Blood Transfusion, and the International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations—all pledge to work together to raise awareness about the need for regular and voluntary blood donations.
We reconfirm our commitment to 100% voluntary blood donations and to supporting countries to achieve this goal.
We are here today to promote the act of voluntary non-remunerated blood donation which is a humanitarian, altruistic and a community-based act.
We encourage blood donors to make giving blood a regular part of their lives.
I am happy to note that the celebrations here include a broadcast by Shanghai East Radio of the World Blood Donor Day theme song "The Gift of Life”, which was written by Wang Jiuping.
Let us together strive towards the aim of universal access to safe blood and blood products.
I once again thank the Government of China for giving me this opportunity to address such a distinguished audience here in Shanghai at the 2010 World Expo.
Thank you.