Over 80 million units of blood are donated every year, but only 38 per cent of it is collected from developing countries, where 82 percent of the global population lives.
In the City on Thursday, awareness rallies and blood donation camps marked the World Blood Donor Day.
There is a demand for five lakh units of blood in Karnataka every year, but only about 3.2 lakh units are collected through voluntary donations, according to Indian Red Cross Society (Karnataka) general secretary N G Narayana.
The Society organised an awareness rally, which was flagged off by Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman B K Chandrashekar. About 400 people, 300 of them students from five nursing colleges, took part in it. The event, sponsored by Karnataka State Finance Corporation, commenced at the Red Cross Bhavan and the rally passed through Subanna Circle, Anand Rao Circle, Sheshadripuram College and Shivananda Circle, before returning to the Bhavan.
Prof Chandrashekar said the gap in access to blood and other health facilities between the classes and between urban and rural areas, needs to be bridged. To ensure equitable distribution and availability of blood, much needs to be done in the area of public health and hygiene, he added.
Corporates chip in
The corporate sector, too, observed the day. A global business services company, e4e Business Solutions, in collaboration with Lion’s Blood Bank, organised a blood donation camp at their Koramangala facility. More than 85 units of blood were collected, according to a company press release.
A BPO company, 24/7 Customer, too organised a donation camp in association with the Red Cross at its facility off Airport Road, where many of the employees of both organisations donated. Roshan, a visually impaired staffer, donated blood -- for the 54th time in his life -- on the occasion.