95 donations per week are needed for group 0-, which is especially valuable because it is universal

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Licence to save lives

The Blood and Tissue Bank of the Balearic Islands has launched the “Licence to save lives” campaign, with the aim of increasing donations of all blood groups and especially of the 0-negative group, a particularly valuable group because it is universal because donations can help people of any blood group. However, 0- donors can only receive blood from their own group and it is estimated that only one in 10 people have it. Hence the need to recruit these potential donors.

To address this need, the Blood Bank is launching a campaign inspired by the stories of secret agents, to highlight society’s challenge to find new caring people, diamonds in the rough, to join the common mission of saving lives. Mythical films and cartoons such as the Pink Panther, Agent 007 James Bond, Mission Impossible or Super Agent 86 are the popular references for the “License to Save Lives” campaign.

The mission is to find hidden heroes with very special characteristics: healthy, caring, brave, generous and committed. Whoever has these qualities can have a licence to save lives and be an agent who ensures that those suffering from illnesses or requiring treatments that require transfusions are cared for in the best possible way in the Balearic Islands.

During 2022, patients on the islands needed more blood components and especially valuable are those of the zero negative groups, which is very scarce in the population and vital in emergency situations.

Group O-negative blood has characteristics that make it suitable for any patient. The other side of the coin is that 0- people can only receive blood from the same blood group. They are universal donors and exclusive recipients.

Only one out of ten people is 0-negative, namely 7% of the population, and as the blood group is inherited, if a 0-negative person is found, there will be more in their family environment. The aim of the campaign is to achieve stable, year-round stocks for all groups, especially zero negatives.

In 2022, an average of 68 donations per week of this group has been achieved, when in order to guarantee the best attention to the growing demand, 95 donations per week would be needed throughout the year. For this reason, an appeal is being made to all Balearic Islanders: “Become a special agent with a licence to save lives”.

The promotional campaign is based on the ability of each person to become a “special agent with a licence to save lives”. You can be a special agent who donates blood or who helps in the mission to find new donors.

Through the material created for the campaign, everyone is encouraged to become a special agent. Anyone can join and collaborate in this initiative to increase the availability of universal donors.

The campaign encourages the whole population to share and join efforts to bring to light the hidden super donor that we all have among our friends and family.

This campaign will last throughout the year 2023 and will be disseminated in all public actions and events organised by the Blood Bank.

Unravel the mystery

Many people do not know their blood group. For this reason, the Blood Bank encourages people to donate, since, after the donation, the laboratory analyses the blood and reports the group in the results of the analysis.

All groups are needed. Donating blood gives you a licence to save lives.

Do you already have a licence to save lives?

Donations continue in 2022

Last year, the organisation organised 1,264 blood donation campaigns in 138 different places on the islands. 21,256 people were encouraged to donate, or 1.8% of the Balearic population. Of these, 2,060 donated blood for the first time.

Thanks to citizen solidarity, the Balearic Islands were self-sufficient for the 14th consecutive year.

Thus, of the 44,567 donations received (3.8% more than in the previous year), 37,403 blood donations were obtained (including 3,353 donations by apheresis), which represents a decrease of 1.3% compared to the previous year.

Data on donations obtained by blood group:

0+: 14.611

A+: 12.330

0-: 3.530

A-: 2.762

B+: 2.420

AB+: 1.015

B-: 531

AB-: 203

Total: 37.402