Volunteers from Home and Abroad Celebrate Blood Donor Day

People from home and abroad rolled up their sleeves in Shanghai to mark the 23rd World Blood Donor Day on Sunday.

Centered on the theme "Every drop of blood carries love; voluntary blood donation saves lives," a special ceremony was held to honor outstanding blood donors and advocate public participation in blood donation.

Official data shows that Shanghai registered 355,000 voluntary blood donations in 2025, with a per capita donation rate of 14.3 per 1,000. The city stocked over 460,000 units of whole blood and red blood cell products, in addition to more than 114,000 units of platelets, underpinning the local clinical blood security system.

Young people constitute over 70 percent of the city's blood donors, serving as the core backbone of Shanghai's voluntary donation workforce. To further promote blood donation among the youngsters, a series of innovative initiatives have been launched, including a comic project in which popular science brand Hunzhi creates vivid comic works that elaborate on professional blood knowledge and donation guidelines.

Shanghai has continuously upgraded its blood donation services and venues. Donation sites have been renovated with improved facilities, offering enhanced comfort and privacy for donors. The innovative "Internet Plus Blood Donation" practice enables citizens to complete online registration via mobile QR codes, eliminating cumbersome manual paperwork and streamlining the whole process.

The city has also optimized its blood fee exemption policy to realize offline-free service handling for donors. In 2025, local authorities processed more than 2,800 blood fee exemption cases, with the total exempted amount exceeding 1.5 million yuan (US$221,965).

The preferential policies cover both local and expatriate donors, allowing them priority access to clinical blood resources in the city. Qualified donors can receive free blood supply up to five times their donated volume within five years and an equivalent volume thereafter. The exemption applies to all expenses related to blood collection, testing, storage and transportation. Furthermore, donors' immediate family members are eligible for free blood usage equivalent to the donor's contribution within the five-year term.