Safe Blood Starts with Me - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

throughout the campaign, eitheras gifts for voluntary andspontaneous blood donors, orthose from mobile teams.Based on the need to target youthas a low-risk group of blooddonors, a high quality poster wasproduced featuring a group ofsmiling students in front of theRoyal University of Phnom Penh.With the slogan “To give blood isan honour for youth—become aregular voluntary blood donor atthe NBTC”, the poster was sosuccessful in high schools andfaculties that reprints areforeseen.Drawing directly on official WHD2000 graphics, thousands ofposters were also printed anddistributed to all provincialtransfusion centres, differentdepartments and ministries, highschools and pagodas.A third, large-scale poster wasalso produced and framed in 500copies for distribution to allhospitals in the country. Thisposter describes the basicfunctions of blood centres and theethics and altruism of blooddonation, and aims to warn thefamilies of patients in need ofblood of the risks inherent in usingpaid blood donors.A brochure was printed inKhmer, adapting informationproduced by WHO/HQ to theCambodian blood safety contextand using local photos. This highquality document, along with theYouth Poster, is one of the majorachievements of the campaign.Copies of the brochure weredistributed among MoH officialsand other ministries, as well asSafe blood stickersreligious authorities andrepresentatives of the Cambodiancivil society.Two different stickers wereproduced for the campaign, thefirst representing the campaignlogo with the educational message“thank you for your blooddonation”, and the second with theWHD logo and message “safeblood starts with me—blood saveslives”.A quiz show was broadcast on6 April featuring competingstudents from three different highschools, and famousCambodian stars.NBTC doctors actedas the jury. The quizshow is always asuccess formula toreach familyaudiences and wastherefore repeatedat peak familyviewing timepassing keymessages on bloodsafety.In honour of WHD2000, a series of workshops onthe rational use of blood wereorganized in Phnom Penhthroughout the year for cliniciansfrom public and private hospitals.ConclusionsWorld Health Day 2000 wassuccessful in Cambodia. Theceremony held at the MoH was animportant opportunity tocongratulate the small group ofregular voluntary blood donorsand initiate a Blood DonorsAssociation in Cambodia. Similarceremonies should be held everyyear.The mass campaign was veryuseful in raising awareness andpreparing the ground for thecelebration of WHD 2000.The initial concrete outcome of thecampaign is the increased numberof donated blood among safe blooddonor groups. The number of bloodbags was tripled, probably due tothe efficient mobile bloodcollection activities. The impact ofIEC activities on blood donors willneed a longer period to evaluate.103 ▲ WORLD HEALTH DAY ▼ SAFE BLOOD STARTS WITH ME