An Editorial in this week's Lancet looks at WHO's focus on getting young people to donate blood, and looks at the potential of harnessing the power of the internet and social networking to achieve this.
WHO is using the slogan "New blood for the world" in its efforts to encourage young blood donors. The Editorial says: "The aim is to motivate young people to give blood for free, and to encourage their peers to do the same. By recruiting a new generation of those in their late teens or 20s, the hope is to boost supplies of blood from a healthy pool of donors, who will then continue to give blood regularly all year round. Promotion of safe and healthy lifestyles in these young people through their frequent contact with blood services is a useful subsidiary aim."
The Editorial calls on the medical community to take every opportunity to encourage their young healthy adult patients to donate, and concludes: "Many more could be reached by campaigns at higher education establishments, or by Google, for example, carrying free advertisements for national blood-donation organisations. If every blood donor used their Facebook wall to recruit friends, and if blood were distributed throughout the year to where the need is greatest, the mismatch between demand and supply could be eliminated."
The Lancet Press Office. T) +44 (0) 20 7424 4949 E) tony.kirby@lancet.com
For full Editorial see: http://press.thelancet.com/editorials1906.pdf
The Lancet