MANILA — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday lauded the country’s achievement in the attainment of the target of reaching one million (blood units) blood collections from the population.
“More than 1 million blood collected in 2017 is a real achievement that corresponds to donation rate of more than 1 percent. This is putting the Philippines ahead of many other countries in comparable situation,” said WHO Country Representative Dr. Gundo Weiler in a press briefing for World Blood Donations Day at the Department of Health main office in Manila.
Weiler added that in comparison, the blood donation rate in middle-income countries was listed at 0.7 percent only.
“So with 1 percent, the Philippines is far ahead,” Weiler said.
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said the country has collected a total of 1,120,408 blood units.
The WHO official attributed the achievement to the strong allies of DOH with the Philippine Red Cross, existing Philippine blood centers in the country and other partners.
“On behalf of WHO I’d like to congratulate in particular, Secretary Duque and PRC chairman/Senator Richard Gordon, I’d like to congratulate the DOH, Phil. Red Cross, Phil. Blood Center and all others who contributed to meet this target,” he said.
He further said that what made the achievement more laudable was the system which was generating blood donation through voluntary means or requiring no remuneration just to encourage people to donate blood.
He said that such system not only primarily saves money and make blood affordable to everybody but at the same time, a way to generate blood that is safe and promote continuity of blood supply.
“Unpaid, voluntary donation are the key to a successful National Blood System and we are very pleased to see that, here in the Philippines, this system was developed,” he added.
Globally, WHO is looking at around 100 million donations that are being collected every year as a target.
“So one in a 100 donations around the globe are being generated here in the Philippines. That is a good number and probably a sufficient number to cover the essential blood needs and to save uncounted lives of mothers and children in particular here in the Philippines,” he said.
“The act of giving blood is therefore an expression of solidarity with our fellow humans. This year’s slogan, “Share life, give blood”, draws attention to the role that voluntary donation systems play in encouraging people to care for one another,” he added.
According to WHO, safe blood supply is an essential part of any health system and is indispensable for achieving universal health coverage.