Recently, the number of blood donors has been decreasing. With the development of the Internet, information about blood donation can spread quickly. However, negative aspects and misinformation about it have also spread, and those are two of the reasons why the number of blood donations is declining. Therefore, if we aren’t interested in blood donation, we can’t get accurate knowledge about it. Let’s find out why it is important, what we have misunderstood about it, and what the current problems are in the blood donation process. -Ed.


Recent problems of blood donation

  Donated blood can’t be stored for a long time. Therefore, continuous and steady blood donations are needed. However, some people don’t want to donate their blood because of the Korea National Red Cross’s poor management of blood donation, so the number of blood donors is decreasing gradually.
  The KNRC’s poor management of blood donation is also greatly affecting the decrease in the number of blood donors. Last October, the fact was disclosed that the KNRC, which often held blood donation campaigns, has wasted approximately 160,000 blood packs every year. The gathered blood via blood donation goes through screening tests before the blood is supplied for transfusion.
  However, about 82.8% of the 160,000 blood packs have been condemned and wasted per year during the testing. As this fact has spread, the number of people refusing blood donation is increasing. Kim Ju-seong(’12, Dept. of Crop Science) said, “I try to donate my blood whenever I have time. However, after I read the recent news that lots of blood is wasted due to poor management, I came to think that the blood I donated and the time I spent for donation might be wasted, and it made me think that blood donation is just barking at the moon.”


The misunderstanding of blood donation

  #1. Blood donation is bad for health: A fixed amount of blood in our body is formed every day, and 15% of it is extra blood for emergencies. This extra blood can be donated without harm if the blood donors drink enough fluids and get enough rest after donating blood. Our body has the outstanding capability to correct internal and external physical changes, so our body completely recovers all the blood from a blood donation after a couple of days, so there is no adverse effect.
  #2. It is impossible to donate blood after overseas travel: If you’ve traveled to a malaria-endemic country and if you stayed there for less than 6 months, you can donate plasma after a year, and if you stayed there for more than 6 months, you can donate plasma after 3 years. If you’ve traveled to a non-malaria-endemic country, you can donate your blood after a month.
  #3. You can be infected by diseases such as AIDS via blood donation: The process of blood donation is very safe. Each tool for blood donation(needle, blood bags, etc.) is aseptic, and once it is used, it will be disposed of, so there is no risk of being infected by diseases such as AIDS.


The necessity of blood donation

  Blood donation is the sole way to save emergency patients who need blood transfusions. Although modern medical science has advanced remarkably, blood cannot be artificially made, and therefore, there is no substitute for blood.
 An anonymous person working in the blood donation center of CBNU said, “The time that people spend donating their blood is equivalent to the golden hour of patients requiring a blood transfusion. Therefore, we’ve conducted many campaigns to encourage blood donation until recently, so lots of nice people visit our blood donation center even if they are busy. However, the number of blood donors in a single day is still less than 30. Even if they are busy, I wish lots of people would participate in blood donation actively with noble minds.”

By Hong Ye-ha
 yh37@cbnu.ac.kr
By Min Tae-kwan
 tk36@cbnu.ac.kr