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The French blood establishment regularly calls for blood donations to avoid any risk of shortage. It also raises awareness, for the second consecutive year, of rare blood donations. Objective: to invite people of African or Caribbean origin to donate because they are more likely to have blood that is highly sought after for certain patients and certain transfusions.
The second edition of Rare Blood Awareness Week runs from November 14-20. The opportunity for the French blood establishment (EFS) to recall that all human beings are not equal and that certain blood groups are rarer or rather infrequent, compared to others.
Transfusion challenges
We all know the most common blood groups: A, B, O and the positive or negative rhesus, listed after. However, some people have what is called rare blood: this is when the frequency of the blood group in question is low enough to create an imbalance between the number of donors and the needs of patients.
This therefore creates a real challenge for transfusing this type of patient. Remember that a blood group is considered rare when it concerns less than 4 people out of 1,000. In France, this represents 700,000 people and a total of 200 rare blood groups are listed.
African and Caribbean people
To meet this particular need, the EFS therefore wishes to raise awareness of this type of donation in particular, in order to find more donors.
The French blood establishment recalls that “anyone can be a carrier of rare blood” but that “However, in metropolitan France, people from the African continent, the West Indies and the Indian Ocean or having African ancestry are more likely to carry a rare blood group or a phenotype called “d ‘interest””.
A vital gift
At the same time, these same populations are likely to present more pathologies, such as sickle cell disease. “For patients with particular blood characteristics, there is no alternative, ie there is no other compatible blood group for transfusion. This is why we need blood donors with these same characteristics. Their gift is vital!“recalls Jacques Chiaroni, Director of the EFS PACA-Corsica.
In 2021, for the first edition of this special week, the EFS had mobilized several thousand donors and hopes to raise awareness among new donors during this second edition.
To find out where to donate and make an appointment at the collection nearest to you, consult the EFS website or go to the “Blood Donation” app.