The Department of Health on Tuesday encouraged young people to make an important contribution to the country by donating blood regularly.

According to Health Secretary Enrique Ona, the Filipino youth could become life-savers as the Philippines joined the celebration of World Blood Donor Day in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“Giving blood is like giving the most precious gift to another person—the gift that will help heal the sick, the gift that will preserve life,” Ona said.

“We do not lose blood when we give some because blood regenerates itself. As we donate blood, we refill our bodies with new and fresher blood,” he added.

The Health chief admitted that the country has a gap in its blood supply, but this may soon be filled as some provinces have achieved 100-percent voluntary blood donation.

Records of the Health department’s National Voluntary Blood Services Program showed that a total of 654,763 blood units were collected in 2009.

Fifty-eight percent of these units came from voluntary blood donation, while the remaining 42 percent came from replacement donation.

“This year, we are targeting the youth and urge everyone to donate blood regularly in keeping with this year’s theme, ‘More Blood, More Life,’” Ona said.

The celebration of World Blood Donor Day aims to increase blood donation by:

• Creating greater awareness on the vital role of blood transfusions in saving lives and improving the health of millions of people each year;

• Motivating more individuals to become regular voluntary unpaid blood donors to ensure sufficient stocks of blood to meet national requirements, even in emergency situations;

• Recognizing regular voluntary unpaid donors as public health role models for they lead healthy lifestyles and are regularly screened so that they will be able to donate blood regularly.

The World Blood Donor Day was spearheaded by the World Health Organization to raise global awareness on the need for safe blood and blood products for transfusion and of the critical contribution that voluntary, unpaid blood donors made to national health systems.