Campaign held to deal with blood shortage at year’s end
A blood donation festival officially kicked off in Hanoi on November 13 in an effort to address a shortage of blood for medical uses at year's end.
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This year’s event lasting from November 6 to December 20 in Hanoi and 16 other provinces and cities nationwide hopes to collect 7,000 blood units. Nearly 2,100 blood units have been donated so far.
Organisers hoped to receive at least 400 blood units at the event in Hanoi.
In 2015, more than 1.3 million blood units were donated in Vietnam, helping with the treatment for hundreds of thousands of patients.
Although the volume of donated blood has continually increased in recent years, it has met about 70% of treatment needs. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation estimates the country needs some 1.8 million blood units every year.
The shortage of blood usually surges in the Lunar New Year festival and the summer.
