DHA rolls out ‘BE THE 1’ blood donation campaign

Dubai / Emirates Business

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) launched the ‘BE THE 1’ blood donation campaign in partnership with Real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo on Sunday.
Donating blood helps save millions of lives each year. Blood and blood products are essential not only for emergency medical situations but also for long-term treatments. The aim of the campaign is to encourage the youth to regularly donate blood and help save lives.
His Excellency Humaid Al Qatami, Chairman of the Board and Director-General of DHA and other officials kicked off the campaign by donating blood at the Dubai Blood Donation Center (DBDC).
Al Qatami said: “Each blood donation can help save potentially three lives and donating blood takes only 15 minutes while platelet collection takes 45 minutes to one hour. Our message to the community is to continue supporting us for this humanitarian cause. All the blood and blood products collected at the DBDC is solely through voluntary donations and at the launch of this campaign, we would also like to thank the community and we ask them, especially the youth, to continue their support.”
As part of this campaign, DHA’s blood donation buses will hold mobile blood donation camps across different locations in the emirate of Dubai, to encourage the community to donate blood and to raise awareness about importance of this humanitarian initiative that directly helps save lives.
The DHA also launched an extensive advertising campaign across different media channels for the #BeThe1Donor movement for which Ronnaldo is the first global ambassador. The aim of the movement is to encourage the youth to regularly
donate blood.
Al Qatami said that the campaign already has all the elements of success. “Giving and helping others is among the noble characteristics of the people of the UAE and this we have learned first-hand from our wise leadership, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as well as the Rulers of the Emirates of the UAE and the members of the Federal Supreme council,” he said.
Al Qatami said having these characteristics have resulted in the success of Dubai’s previous blood campaign ‘My Blood for My Country’, launched by His Highness Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, who stressed on the importance of joint efforts between members of society and the private and public sector to support the noble cause of blood donation.
After the launch of the ‘My Blood for My Country’ campaign, the DBDC recorded an increase of 24,000 units in one year.
Al Qatami said that he expects the ‘BE THE 1’ campaign will achieve the same level of success and added that the DHA-run Dubai Blood Donation Centre (DBDC) is capable to successfully meet the requirements of donors, collect and store blood in accordance with international standards.
The DBDC is the first centre in the UAE and one of the few centres in the Middle East to achieve the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) accreditation.
Al Qatami said that in 2015, the DBDC conducted 631 blood donation campaigns and collected 48,297 blood units in addition to 5,149 platelet units that was distributed to public and private sector hospitals across Dubai.
Al Qatami called on the public to donate blood by visiting the Centre or through the mobile blood donation buses that are located across the different residential and commercial areas of Dubai.
Dr Mai Raouf, Director of the DBDC thanked community members for their support as blood collected at the centre is solely through voluntary blood donations. “We are meeting the demand for the emirate and this is due to the support of our community members. My message to the community is that those who have rare or negative blood groups should register with the DBDC so that we can call them if the need arises. I would also like to inform the public that it is safe to donate blood every eight weeks, and platelets up to 24 times a year. Blood donation takes only 15 minutes and in return it provides patients with a life-line.”