Blood donation is on the rise globally, with more people than ever giving voluntarily and national blood services growing stronger, according to new data from the World Health Organization, though the agency cautions that millions worldwide still cannot get safe blood when they need it.
Figures drawn from 132 countries show blood collections climbed by almost 19 per cent between 2013 and 2023, a rise driven largely by voluntary, unpaid donors.
More than 85 per cent of the roughly 120 million units collected in 2023 came from such donations, a model the WHO regards as the safest and most sustainable, since regular volunteer donors carry a lower risk of transmitting infectious disease and offer greater stability to national supplies.
Despite the progress, the agency warned that stark inequalities persist.
Many patients, including women suffering severe bleeding during childbirth, children with acute anaemia, trauma victims, surgical patients, and those with chronic conditions such as sickle-cell disease, thalassaemia, haemophilia, immunodeficiencies and certain cancers, continue to struggle to access safe transfusions.
The problem is most acute in low-income countries, where limited funding, weak infrastructure and transport difficulties are hampering efforts to build reliable national blood banks.
The WHO said these disparities, coupled with funding gaps and fragile health systems, continue to pose a threat to safe blood access worldwide.
