World Blood Donor Day
Karl Landsteiner, the Austria - Hungarian has been described as the father of transfusion medicine. Landsteiner made numerous contributions to pathological anatomy, histology and immunology. In 1909, he classified the bloods of human beings into the now well-known A, B, AB, and O groups and showed that transfusions between individuals of same groups A or B do not result in the destruction of new blood cells. This great invention not only fetched him Nobel Prize in 1930, but also saving millions of lives today.
For transfusion we need blood. 90% of blood are received from volunteer donors for free. To commemorate the donors and encourage others to donate, World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) , decided to celebrate World Blood Donor Day on 14th June since 2005, Which is the birth day of Karl Landsteiner.
World Blood Donor Day is one of 11 official global public health campaigns marked by the WHO. The global theme of World Blood Donor Day changes each year.
Today the whole world celebrates this day in recognition of the selfless individuals who donate their blood for people unknown to them. If you haven't done this yet, today is the day to do the noble thing. Blood donation is next to Godliness as you are saving a unknown person without any expectation.
Below stamp set issued by Papua New Guinea in the year 1980 to commemorate Red Cross Blood Bank.
I have some colleagues who donate their blood regularly!
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