The Bloody Citizen

BUILDING A NEW PLATFORM
FOR YOUTH MOBILIZATION
BLOOD DONATION AT ITS ROOTS
Education, since it's very inception, has been a
space for negotiation of social issues and assigning
a role to the youth which goes beyond taking
a charge. This can be held true for a variety of instances:
whether it’s the Renaissance, or whether
it’s the present time, colleges and schools often
function as peepholes for gaining an insight into issues
within the society that must be fought, understood,
and resolved. Given the lack of blood units
in India necessary for donation, blood donation becomes
one of these very central causes that students
are often turned towards.
Only about one percent of possible donors in India
end up actually donating blood – and the most-used
answer to why a particular person doesn’t donate
blood is still “well, I simply didn’t think about it.”
India has faced and continues to face an acute
shortage of safe, quality blood, not only due to
the lack of blood donors, but also due to lack of
awareness and blind ignorance.
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Only one percent of eligible donors in India actually
go ahead and donate blood, an amount
which is shockingly small and surprising, given
the fact that blood donation does not charge
the donor with any damages or ailments. It’s a
noble cause and leads to the saving of lives, and
one that doesn’t require a lot of work from the
donor. This is where the role of educational
institutions comes in, where the operation of
Interact Clubs, Rotaract Clubs, Social Service
wings and non-governmental organizations
proves to be instrumental in creating a platform
for students to come forward and do their
bit. This role can take various forms – whether
its volunteering, donating blood, educating
adults on blood donation or motivating one’s
friends and family to go ahead and donate. The
youth plays all kinds of roles in ensuring that
the need for blood is fulfilled as the years go by