The Samoa Red Cross Society Secretary-General Namulauulu Tautala Mauala has acknowledged the kindness and generosity of those who continue to donate blood.

Namulauulu acknowledged members of the public who continue to donate blood to save lives as the local arm of the international humanitarian organisation joined others around the world to celebrate World Blood Donor Day.

The celebration on Monday 14 June revolved around the theme “give blood and keep the world beating”.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer, Namulauulu said the society got approval from the Samoa government to assist with the blood donation program in 1997.

“Today is a special day to acknowledge the role of those who donate their blood to support and help our people who are sick in different hospitals in the country,” she said in an interview.

“In 1997 the government authorised the rights for our society to help up with the program. "As we needed for operations or other illnesses, but since the result from meetings that were held in the past, there is a role of the Samoa Red Cross Society to help.”

The Red Cross Society is located in 192 countries around the world including Samoa according to Namulauulu, and the local office is currently running advocacy programs promoting the importance of blood and blood donations.

“And it is enough to fulfill this need for the health organisation of supplying blood for patients and sick people,” she said.

“So our society worked on educational programs to teach our people about the importance of blood for every human being, about the importance of these blood donations and to strengthen the message about the sacrifices that Jesus our Savior did for us to live eternally and donate his own blood to save us all.

"We have programs all over Samoa, mainly Sundays inside churches during youth times and that’s where we find lots of people who are willing to offer their shoulders to help our society with the Health Ministry by donating their blood.”

Namulauulu said the society is also tasked to ensure all blood donations are tested to ensure they are safe and healthy for use on patients.

”We are working together with the Ministry of Health to make sure that the blood donated is safe and healthy.

“And because of the rise of diseases that affect our people, it also increases the need for blood so the theme of this year is to acknowledge donors and to encourage and inspire people to continue their gentleness as the demand is rapidly increasing.”

The society donates about 2000-plus pints of blood annually, though Namulauulu revealed that last year that total shot up to over 6000 pints.

“Most blood pints used were for different types of diseases’ operations, maternity illness, male and female bleeding and accidents like car accidents and others which are rising in our country.”

Namulauulu said that the only challenges that the society faces is its financial budget as the Government only gives them $12,000 a year to run their programs. 

She said that the amount was not enough to cover all their expenses such as transportation and awareness programs as well as providing snacks for people who donate blood.

The World Blood Donor Day was first organised by the World Health Organization in collaboration with the Red Cross in 2005 to raise awareness highlighting the importance of safe blood and blood products and to thank donors for their voluntary life-saving action.