Special donation campaign in Malaga to mark World Blood Donor Day

Malaga's transfusion, tissue and cell centre is holding a special blood and plasma donation campaign today (Wednesday 14 June) and Thursday 15 June to mark World Blood Donor Day. The special session will take place at the Malaga Transfusion Centre at the Hospital Civil, from 9am to 9pm. Those who donate will be able to park in the hospital grounds free of charge on presentation of a stamped ticket.

The transfusion centre has pointed out that to donate plasma it is advisable to make an appointment (from 9am to 2pm) by calling 951 034 120 or 951 034 121.

World Blood Donor Day is celebrated on 14 June, to coincide with the date of birth of Karl Landsteiner, Nobel Prize winner for Medicine and the person who discovered the ABO blood groups. The slogan chosen this year is 'Donate blood, donate plasma, share life, share often'.

The campaign focuses on patients in need of lifelong transfusion support and highlights the role that everyone can play by donating the precious gift of their blood or plasma. It also highlights the importance of donating blood or plasma on a regular basis to create a safe and sustainable supply of blood and blood products that can always be available, worldwide, so that all patients in need can receive timely treatment.

The Malaga transfusion centre supplies all the blood needed by the province's health facilities, both public and private. Some 250 people a day are required to donate blood to meet this demand.

The general profile of the blood donor in Malaga is that of a male over 40 years of age who goes to a mobile collection unit. However, the proportion changes among younger people, half of whom are men and half women. By age, the largest sector is the 41-50 age group, which accounts for 26.4%, followed by the under-31s, who account for 26.2%. People in the 51 to 60 age bracket make up 23.7% of donors, with donors over 60 in fourth place.

Malaga has registered a total of 20,713 donations during the first five months of 2023 – up to 31 May – of which 19,806 were blood and 907 plasma donations, a similar number to 2022, when 20,747 donations were registered during the same period.

During these months, 2,711 new donors have been registered, 4% more than those who joined in the same period of 2022, when 2,595 new donors were registered. Fifty-four percent of the people who came to donate for the first time this year were women and 46% were men.

An important note for would-be donors is that anyone who lived in Britain for 12 months or more between 1980 and 1996, or spent a nonconsecutive amount of time in the UK equalling 12 months during that period, is not allowed give blood in Spain because of fears they could transmit Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD), also known as subacute spongiform encephalopathy or 'mad cow' disease.