Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – Nearly 5,000 volunteers, mostly university students and youth union members in Ho Chi Minh City, participated in a blood donation drive on March 8 under the 18th “Chu Nhat Do” (Red Sunday) Campaign.
The event was among the highlights of the nationwide Red Sunday programme, which encourages the community's participation in voluntary blood donation to help ensure adequate blood supplies for hospitals, particularly at the start of the year when demand is typically high.
Phung Cong Suong, Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong Newspaper and head of the organising committee, said the campaign aimed to mobilise large quantities of blood for patient treatment while strengthening the voluntary blood donation movement across the country. Now in its 18th year, Red Sunday has helped collect hundreds of thousands of blood units, making an important contribution to saving patients’ lives.
This year’s event also saw the participation of more than 20 artists, beauty queens, actors and models, who joined activities to promote the campaign and encourage the public to donate blood.
Among the participants, Au Le Tuan Kiet, a third-year student at Van Hien University, said that contributing to the community is an important responsibility for young people. He described blood donation as a small but meaningful act that can help save lives.
During the programme, the organising committee honoured outstanding collectives and individuals who have actively joined the voluntary blood donation movement. It also awarded 100 scholarships to students who have donated blood multiple times and presented 20 computers to student associations at universities across the city to support social initiatives and student activities.
According to health authorities, Vietnam collected nearly 1.75 million units of blood in 2025, with 98% from volunteer donors, equivalent to around 1.75% of the population participating in blood donation. Large-scale campaigns such as Red Sunday have played a key role in achieving these results.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tri Thuc, Deputy Minister of Health, expressed hope that more initiatives like Red Sunday will be organised to further expand the voluntary blood donation movement and support life-saving medical treatment nationwide.
The Red Sunday voluntary blood donation campaign was first launched by Tien Phong Newspaper in 2009, following an urgent appeal for blood donations when hospitals faced severe shortages during the 2008–2009 year-end and Lunar New Year period. Over the past 18 years, the programme has collected hundreds of thousands of blood units, helping ease blood shortages during Tet and promoting regular blood donation in the community./.
