Hanoi (VNA) - A blood donation drive waslaunched 👍on December 26 in Hanoi, expected to collect about 50,000 blood unitsduring the 2019 Chu Nhat Do (Red Sunday).

The annual event isorganised by Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, the National SteeringCommittee on Traffic Safety and the National Institute of Haematology and BloodTransfusions (NIHBT). The event was first heldin 2008 for one Sunday in Hanoi, hence the name. The campaign is an effortto ease the blood supply shortage in hospitals throughout the country duringthe Tet (lunar New Year) holidays.  The one-month long eventwill take place in 39 provinces and cities across the country with nearly 70blood collection events, including the main festival in Hanoi on January 6,2019. Many localities have registered to collect thousands of blood units suchas Hanoi (6,000), HCM City (3,000) and Dak Lak (3,800). Speaking at pressconference on December 26 in Hanoi, NIHBT director Dr Bach Quoc Khanh said theneed of blood for emergency and treatment at hospitals increases during thelast months of the year. “From the beginning ofDecember, many blood transfusion centres, especially in Hanoi and HCM City,have announced blood shortages and called on the community for help,” said Khanh. “Red Sunday has playedan important role in health care activities of the health sector, especially inhandling blood shortages during summer and Tet periods,” saidKhanh. Khanh said that inJanuary 2019, the country would need 150,000 units of blood for medicaltreatment. The newspaper’s editorin chief Le Xuan Son said that Red Sunday aimed to promote voluntary blooddonation and change thinking about blood donation. “It (Red Sunday)mobilises volunteers to donate blood for emergency, treatment before, duringand after Tet at all health facilities throughout thecountry,” said Son. According to Son, bloodcollection from Red Sunday events has increased remarkably over the past fiveyears, from 8,419 units in 2014 to 47,766 units in 2018. More than 123,000 bloodunits were collected over the past 10 Red Sunday events. The NIHBT statisticsshowed that the country has collected 1.4 million units of blood nationwide,equivalent to 1.6 percent of population to donate blood in 2018. Collectedblood has met over 60 percent of the country’s demand of blood for emergency,examination and reservation.-VNA