HÀ NỘI — The National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) expects to collect at least 45,000 blood units during Hành trình đỏ (Red Journey) 2017.

Red Journey 2017 is a blood donation communication campaign that kicked off today in Hà Nội.

During the one-month campaign, 140 outstanding volunteers, divided into two groups, will travel through 28 provinces and cities nationwide to collect blood and spread the message about the importance of donating blood.

The group started its journey from southern Cà Mau Province on July 1 and will travel through 18 southern and central provinces and cities. It has collected more than 5,600 blood units over blood donation camps in six provinces and cities of Kiên Giang, Cần Thơ, Long An and HCM City, as well as Đồng Nai and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu.

The other group left from Hà Nội today for Phú Thọ and nine other northern provinces. The two groups will meet in Hà Nội on July 27 to participate in a series of activities that are part of Red Journey 2017, including a blood donation festival.

They will also call upon the public to donate blood in a bid to ease the current blood shortage at hospitals and raise community awareness about thalassemia – a genetic blood disorder that can lead to heart failure and liver problems.

“Blood shortage situation has occurred in many countries, including Việt Nam. Campaigns such as Red Journey will contribute to providing enough blood to meet emergency and treatment needs of hospitals as well as to strengthen community awareness on the humanitarian blood donation movement,” NIHBT director Nguyễn Anh Trí said.

Trí said Red Journey has dramatically changed the image of the humanitarian blood donation movement in Việt Nam in terms of the scale of organisation, communication and professional activities.

Red Journey is an important milestone in the development of the country’s voluntarily blood donation movement, contributing to attaining the goal that all blood will be donated by voluntary donors by 2020,” Trí said.

Since the first Red Journey in 2013, thousands of patients’ lives have been saved due to nearly 75,000 blood units collected during the past four years. The campaign has contributed to easing blood shortage during the summer when voluntary donors, mainly students, go home for the summer vacation, according to NIHBT.

Red Journey 2017 is organised by NIHBT in collaboration with Việt Nam Red Cross and the National Assembly’s TV Channel with support from BIDV, VietinBank, CP Việt Nam Corporation and IDP International Diary JSC. — VNS