#Blood4All, Seattle Shapers’ Participation in a Global Blood Donation Campaign Takes on New Significance Amidst COVID-19

Author: Alex Tellez

Seattleshapers
3 min readMar 25, 2020

In December of 2019, the Seattle Hub of Global Shapers joined 100 cities around the world in a global campaign, Blood4All, to confront the global blood shortage. The campaign aims to increase awareness around the need for blood donations, solicit blood donations, and normalize blood donation.

The blood shortage can only be resolved by increasing donations. Currently, there is no good substitute for blood. Although, that’s not for lack of trying. Researchers have attempted to make artificial blood for decades, but studies suggest that artificial blood is more dangerous than real blood — it increases risk of death by 30% and increases risk of heart attack by 2.7-fold. As of now, the only option available for transfusions is real blood. But the supply of real blood is critical.

A 2019 NIH-funded study of the global blood supply found that, as of 2017, 61% of countries (115 out of 195) did not have enough blood to meet their needs. The study’s analysis suggests that in most low- and middle-income countries, the gap between the demand and supply for blood is very large. This gap can be attributed to disparate rates of donation in low income countries; according to the World Health Organization, of the 117.4 million blood donations collected globally, “42% of these are collected in high-income countries, home to 16% of the world’s population.”

The impact of the blood shortage is that more people die from preventable deaths. People suffering from chronic health conditions like HIV and sickle-cell disease often need blood transfusions throughout their lifetime. Trauma patients, cancer patients, women giving birth, and surgical patients often need blood transfusions to survive treatment. Without an adequate blood supply, critical treatment is delayed and hospitals cannot save lives.

Experts argue that young people have the capacity to close this gap. A survey in 2019 found that 45% of blood donations traditionally come from people over the age of 50 and that population is declining. In order to fill this gap and mobilize young people around the world to donate, Global Shapers in 32 cities joined together in a global Blood4All blood drive in 2016.

What began as support for the global blood shortage, participation in Blood4All has now become even more significant to the Seattle Hub in the wake of COVID-19. The Pacific Northwest sources 60% of its blood from Bloodworks’ mobile blood drives. COVID-19 has caused a critical blood shortage in the region as venues close and blood drives are canceled. Bloodworks Northwest has recently declared a blood supply emergency in the region.

Before COVID-19 spread to Seattle, the Seattle Hub partnered with Peddler Brewing Company and Bloodworks Northwest to host a blood drive. In the wake of the pandemic, we have postponed the event, but Global Shapers is especially committed to encouraging blood donation in our region. Bloodworks Northwest assures that it is safe to donate blood and that “individuals are not at risk of contracting coronavirus through the blood donation process.” Therefore, we are working hard to recruit locals to donate and help replenish the supply.

Join our hub in donating blood and spreading the word that it is safe to donate blood. Below is information to donate:

https://bit.ly/find206

1–800–398–7888

--

--

Seattleshapers
Seattleshapers

Written by Seattleshapers

A global network of engaged young people under the age of 30 working on local issues around the world. Born out of the World Economic Forum.

No responses yet