Accra, July 1, GNA - A new global data from the World Health Organization (WHO) released on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day, revealed that people under the age of 25 years contribute an estimated 38 per cent of reported voluntary blood donations. It said although the standard age for blood donation was 18 to 65 years of age, some countries accept donations from people as young as 16 years provided their parents consent.

This was contained in a statement released by the WHO and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday.

The statement said in many countries, lots of young people had started giving out blood and that this could be used by such countries to encourage more young people to become donors.

"A blood safety survey revealed that Botswana, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Guinea, India, Jordan, Kiribati, Laos Peoples Democratic Republic, Malawi, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Tuvalu, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe obtained more than half of their total donation from people under 25 years", it said. The release, however, stated that voluntary unpaid donations were preferred over paid donations because supplies were generally safer and there was less risk of donor exploitation, and could promote other healthy life style choices among young donors.

"More countries could achieve 100 per cent voluntary unpaid blood donations if they focus efforts on engaging young people", the release stated. 01 July 10