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Mon 19 Apr 2004

Only 0.5% of our youth are blood donors

Category : life in Singapore

Every three weeks, 16-year old Valerie Kum receives a blood transfusion of three bags of blood. She suffers from the blood disorder thalassaemia major. She was hospitalised when she was 10 years old as there was not enough blood during the festive season.

Red Challenge is an annual blood donation drive conducted by the Singapore Red Cross and the Singapore Press Holdings. Held during June, this is one of the 'drought' periods for blood donations as schools close and families go for holidays overseas.

This year youth between the ages of 16 and 25 are the target group. Associate Professor Phua Kai Hong, vice-chairman of the Singapore Red Cross, said: "Young people make up 11 per cent of the population but only half a per cent of them are blood donors."

This year, the Red Challenge hopes to get at least 2,000 young people to donate blood. This would meet about 30 per cent of the daily needs of the hospitals in June.

- Paraphrased from the full article by Rachel Cheng, The New Paper, 11th April 2004 [pdf]. See also the Red Cross Red Challenge Award. The entry form here. Other links to blood donation in Singapore here.

Posted at 5:22PM UTC by N. Sivasothi | permalink | , .