Please note: this is an archived news article release

This article was published on Tuesday, 14 June, 2016. The information contained within may be out of date or inaccurate. News articles and media releases older than 60 days are archived for future reference.

Shepparton goes RED for National Blood Donor Week

As part of the week, every year, on 14 June, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day. The event serves to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood and to raise awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure the quality, safety and availability of blood and blood products for patients in need.

The theme of this year's World Blood Donor Day is "Blood connects us all". It focuses on thanking blood donors and highlights the dimension of "sharing" and "connection" between blood donors and patients. In addition, we have adopted the slogan "Share life, give blood", to draw attention to the roles that voluntary donation systems play in encouraging people to care for one another and promote community cohesion.

The campaign aims to highlight stories of people whose lives have been saved through blood donation, to motivate regular blood donors to continue giving blood, and motivate people in good health who have never given blood to begin doing so, particularly young people.