Blood service needs young donors
SANBS joins Cristiano Ronaldo and Abbott to urge young people to sign up as blood and plasma donors.
THE South African National Blood Service (SANBS) has rallied behind international movement BE THE 1TM Donor to inspire young people to become life-long blood and plasma donors and help save lives.
This international movement was conceptualised by a global healthcare company, Abbott, which has partnered with Cristiano Ronaldo in an effort to respond to the global decline in the number of new and young donors.
Ronaldo started donating as a 24-year-old when he witnessed one of his teammates battle with the search for a stem cell donor for his ailing son. Seven years later he is still giving blood regularly.
Currently, South African tertiary students and pupils contribute about 40 percent to the national blood reserves – and supporting them to continue this as a life-long commitment is an important objective for the SANBS.
A recent SANBS study conducted to determine the motivation behind the youth’s choice to give revealed that there was no powerful single-minded call-to-action for them to identify with.
The South African campaign, which launched on October 17, will recruit local ambassadors to join Ronaldo, including students and radio and TV personalities.
They will take part in awareness-raising activations and be prominent on social and traditional media platforms to spread the word and support the global movement across South Africa.
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