This World Blood Donor Day, all we want to give is our thanks

On World Blood Donor Day (WBDD), we want to say thank you to New Zealand's 110,000 unsung heroes, we genuinely couldn’t do it without you.

We celebrate World Blood Donor Day on 14th June each year and say thank you to all of our donors for their support and generous donations. There’s no synthetic substitute for blood and we need to collect around 3,000 donations nationally each week just to meet demand. Thank you to all of our wonderful donors around the country, you truly are the lifeblood of New Zealand.

The history of World Blood Donor Day

The World Health Organisation, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies initiated World Blood Donor Day in 2004. It takes place on June 14 each year and provides an opportunity for a united, national and global celebration on a day that has particular significance; the birthday of Karl Landsteiner, the Nobel Prize winner who discovered the ABO blood group system.

Join our Lifesavers

NZBS is always looking for new donors. If you are interested in becoming a lifesaver, check the details at www.nzblood.co.nz.

- From New Zealand Blood Service

The objectives of this year’s campaign run by the World Health Organisation:

* celebrate and thank individuals who donate blood and encourage more people to start donating; • raise wider awareness of the urgent need to increase the availability of safe blood for use wherever and whenever it is needed to save life;

* demonstrate the need for universal access to safe blood transfusion and provide advocacy on its role in the provision of effective health care and in achieving universal health coverage;

* mobilize support at national, regional and global levels among governments and development partners to invest in, strengthen and sustain national blood programmes.