Rotary Club calls for blood donations, especially RhD negative

The Rotary Club of Macau, together with the Macao Blood Transfusion Service, is organizing the Rotary Blood Event during March and April, encouraging individuals to make a blood donation, particularly those whose blood type is RhD negative.
RhD negative blood type in Macau is very rare as 99% of blood donors are of Chinese origin, and only 3‐5 out of 1000 people of Chinese origins has this blood type. By comparison, in Caucasians, an average of 150 people out of 1000 has this blood type. Given this, one of the focuses in this year’s Rotary Blood Donation Event will be to encourage more Caucasians in Macau, especially those who are RhD negative, to donate blood.
In 2020, there was a reduction of blood donations from individuals with RhD negative blood type (26 in 2019 to 25 in 2020) and also a reduction in the number of RhD negative units donated by Caucasians (35 in 2019 to 34 in 2020). The total number of Caucasians registered as blood donors fell from 135 in 2019 to 108 in 2020.
“Our appeal goes to the Caucasians because there was, in fact, a reduction in the number of donors and the number of donated units throughout the year 2020. It is necessary to maintain a balance in blood reserves in Macau,” explained the president of the Rotary Club of Macau, João Francisco Pinto.
Meanwhile, in 2020, as a result of the measures taken by the Macao Blood Transfusion Service to enhance the blood donation drive, there were a total of 13,387 persons registered for blood donation, which resulted in the collection of 16,541 units.