TEHRAN – Over the first ten months of the current [Iranian calendar] year (started March 21, 2021), blood donation has increased by over 13.37 percent compared to the same period last year, Mohammad Reza Mehdizadeh, head of Tehran blood transfusion organization, has said.

Although the first-time blood donation rate decreased by nearly 11 percent during this period, a nearly 13 percent increase in experienced donors could be a sign that the group is joining regular donors (with a history of donating blood at least twice a year), he explained.

Also, during the last 10 months, regular blood donation has increased by 25 percent, which can be expected to help increase the quality of donated blood, he stated.

Referring to the 10,677 blood units donated by women, he noted that a total of 274,765 blood units have been donated across the country, during the aforementioned period.

Blood donation in Iran has long been done voluntarily as over 2.1 million Iranians donate blood annually. Over the first nine months of the current [Iranian calendar] year (started March 21), a total of 1,533,582 people donated blood across the country, Bashir Haji-Beigi, the Blood Transfusion Organization spokesman, said in December 2021.

Over 2.1m Iranians donate blood per year

Blood donation in Iran has long been done voluntarily as over 2.1 million Iranians donate blood annually, Haji-Beigi said on June 14.

There are currently 178 blood donation centers in the country, with Fars, Khorasan Razavi, Khuzestan, Tehran, and Mazandaran provinces having the largest number of blood donation centers, he stated.

Highest blood donation in Eastern Mediterranean

While blood donation in 70 countries still depends on replacement or paid donors, Iran is the first country in the region that has enjoyed voluntary blood donation by 100 percent since 2007.

More than 85 percent of all donated blood worldwide is used to produce blood products, while the rate is 65 percent in Eastern Mediterranean countries. Iran ranks among the highest-income countries in terms of converting more than 97 percent of the blood donated by people to plasma-derived medicinal products (PDMP).

Only 55 of 171 countries produce PDMP through the fractionation of plasma collected in the reporting country. A total of 90 countries reported that all PDMP are imported, 16 countries reported that no PDMP was used during the reporting period, and 10 countries did not respond to the question, according to WHO.

Iran currently has the highest blood donation rate in the Eastern Mediterranean region so out of 9.9 million blood donation units in this region, more than two million belongs to Iran.

Also, the index of blood donation is 25 per 1,000 populations, while in the member states of the Eastern Mediterranean region, this number is 14.9 per 1000.

117.4 million blood donations worldwide

According to the World Health Organization, blood transfusion saves millions of lives and improves health, but many patients requiring transfusion do not have timely access to safe blood.

About 117.4 million blood donations are collected worldwide. 42 percent of these are collected in high-income countries, home to 16 percent of the world’s population.

About 12,700 blood centers in 170 countries report collecting a total of 100 million donations. Collections at blood centers vary according to income group. The median annual donations per blood center are 1,300 in the low-income countries, 4,100 in lower-middle-income countries, and 8 500 in upper-middle-income countries, as compared to 23,000 in the high-income countries.

Data about the gender profile of blood donors show that globally 32 percent of blood donations are given by women, although this ranges widely. In 14 of the 119 reporting countries, less than 10 percent of donations are given by female donors.
Moreover, 62 countries collect 100 percent of their blood supply from voluntary, unpaid blood donors. Some 108 million blood donations are collected globally, half of these are in high-income countries. Meanwhile, blood donation by 1 percent of the population can meet a nation’s most basic requirements for blood.

FB/MG