The UWI Blood Donor Foundation has been featured in the UWI Today Magazine – March 2013 Issue. The article found on page 11, discusses several aspects of the foundation and blood donation trends in Trinidad and Tobago. As a means of easy reference the full article can be seen below:
We are all familiar with the chilling appeals for blood donors from patients or their relatives in dire need. Is this how it is supposed to be? Why does this not happen in developed countries? The answer lies in voluntary, regular, blood donations by healthy members of the community. Voluntary blood donation (VBD) means that healthy members of the society donate blood selflessly, under no pressure from health care personnel or patients, without receiving payment in cash or kind, for use by anyone in need. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that if three out of every 100 citizens donate blood once or twice per year for use by any patient in need, a country’s transfusion requirements would be met. Here is a UWI initiative to inspire such selflessness for the long-term benefit of the region.
Where did the concept of VBD arise? In the early 1900s, patients needing blood transfusions in England had to find their own blood donors. This practice was deemed inefficient and VBD was initiated in 1921 by Percy Lane Oliver, a Red Cross worker. By 1946, the totally voluntary British National Blood Transfusion Service was established. Nonetheless, replacement blood donation (RBD), whereby patients find their own blood donors to cover an anticipated need or to replace blood used in an emergency, has remained standard practice in many developing countries, notably the English Caribbean. This includes the UWI campus territories of Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. RBD is often accompanied by paid or remunerated blood donation (PBD) as persons in need may use this method to get others to donate in order to secure medical services.
Through our events and activities we intend to raise awareness of the importance of blood donation in Trinidad and Tobago. Visit our media centre regularly since it's constantly updated with photo galleries and videos of past events as well as updates and details on current and future events.
