More than 20,000 people took part in a nationwide Russian Red Cross action timed to coincide with World Marrow and Hematopoietic Cell Donor Day. Master classes. Lectures and donor events were held in 35 regions of the country from September 15 to October 15.
The All-Russian Blood Donor Campaign was held at the RRC regional branches, medical and educational institutions and blood transfusion stations. The 35 Russian regions saw 84 educational events and donor actions.
«On September 1 this year a unified state register of bone marrow donors was established in Russia. Owing to our month-long All-Russian action, the register was enlarged by almost 200 people. It is very important, as the more people become bone marrow donors, the better chances severely ill people have to recover and keep on living», – said the Russian Red Cross First Deputy Chairman Victoria Makarchuk.
Many regional branches of the Russian Red Cross conducted educational activities for medical students - in St. Petersburg, Stavropol Krai, Moscow and Orenburg regions, the Republics of Altai, Komi and Mari El, and Krasnoyarsk Krai.
In Perm Krai the campaign participants organized a "Face-to-Face Meeting" between bone marrow donors, recipients, and specialized experts. In the Republic of Bashkortostan honorary donors received souvenirs from the Russian Red Cross. More than 500 people participated in the bone marrow donor event in Amur Oblast, 400 people – in Orenburg Oblast and more than 700 people – in the Republic of Tuva.
The event was held as part of the federal project "Supporting Russian Red Cross Activities" and was supported by the Russian Ministry of Health, the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, the Russian Ministry of Health's Hematology Research Center, and the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University. Its goal was to increase the population awareness of bone marrow and hematopoietic stem cell donation.
Popularizing donation of blood and bone marrow in Russia is one of the Russian Red Cross priorities. As part of this activity, a broad information campaign to promote donation is being implemented, including setting up a unified information system to unite special socially oriented non-profit organizations (SO NPO) and donor promotion organizations. The campaign will enable training of donor promotion activists to work with regional NGOs and volunteers.
This year the All-Russian action "The Donor's Way" timed to coincide with the World Blood Donor Day (June 13-15) took place with participation of over 426,000 people in 76 regions of the country. A contest to encourage NGOs joint projects was held, a contest of the corporate donor community best practices is planned for the future, regular donor actions and educational events are regularly conducted in the regions.
In April, the Russian Red Cross held a conference on popularizing blood and bone marrow donation at the XIV All-Russian Forum of the Blood Service, attended by over 300 people. In June the Russian Red Cross, supported by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, conducted a survey, according to which 37% of respondents have at least once in their life donated blood or its components, while 1% of the respondents have experience in organ and tissue donation. At the same time, 46% of respondents have some stereotyped ideas about the first type of donation, and 68% about the second one.
