Annually on 14 June, countries worldwide will celebrate World Blood Donor Day with events to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.

Up to 2012, there are 62 countries having blood transfusion services based entirely on voluntary blood donation, up from 39 in 2002. In Vietnam, since the Government’s approval of the national program for encouraging voluntary blood donation in 2000, blood donation has been steadily increased. However, the current blood donation level only meets 45% of demand.