The American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham Vietnam) will, for the first time in Ho Chi Minh City, organise World Blood Donor Day on June 14.

The day sees a celebration of voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors around the world.

‘More blood. More life.’ will be held in cooperation with the Hospital of Hematology and Blood Transfusion and Ho Chi Minh City Humanitarian Blood Donation Centre of Red Cross.

AmCham Vietnam starts holding the World Blood Donor Day in Ho Chi Minh City from this year as part of AmCham’s community development activities in Vietnam.

The focus of the day, which celebrates the gift of blood, is always on voluntary blood donors.

On Monday, 62 countries’ blood transfusion services are based entirely on voluntary donations, up from 39 in 2002. In Vietnam, since the Government approved the National Blood Donation Day to encourage people to help those in need in 2000, blood donation has steadily increased.

However, the current blood donation level only meets 40% of demand, according to Amcham.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the demand for blood in Vietnam is 1.7 million units (2% of population).

Yet, last year, there were only 675,000 units of blood collected.

Accordingly, the Vietnam Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion expect to collect 800,000 units from voluntary donors in 2011.