Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam will host theWorld Blood Donor Day for the first time with the participation ofinternational and domestic delegates, said Le Gia Tien, chief of the secretariatof the National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood DonationCampaign in Hanoi on June 12.
As many as 100 outstanding blood donors will behonoured during a ceremony to be broadcast live in three places in Hanoi, Hueand Ho Chi Minh City on June 14.
The programme with the message “Give blood. Givenow. Give often” aims to call on the community to give blood frequently and bewilling to give blood in emergency.
A series of activities are being held to markthe occasion, including a cycling programme and a blood donation week campaignthemed “Kind-hearted summer” in Hanoi, with the participation of volunteersfrom Iran, representatives from the EU delegation to Vietnam, and over 500local volunteers.
An international workshop on blood donation willalso be held to exchange experience and promote cooperation in blood donation.
World Blood Donor Day, initiated in 2004, is anoccasion to remember Austrian-American Karl Lansteiner, who discovered bloodgroups and made blood transfusions possible.
Vietnam has observed the event annually since2008.-VNA
