The Canarian Institute of Hemodonation and Hemotherapy (ICHH), which depends on the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, has registered more than four thousand new donors in the first seven months of 2023. In total, between January and July of this year, the ICHH has registered 4,482 first-time donors.
54.04% of these new donations have occurred in the province of Las Palmas, compared to 45.96% registered in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Regarding the age of these first-time donors, it should be noted that 50.06% of the people who have donated blood for the first time are between 18 and 33 years old, compared to 31.26% who belong to the age group of 34 to 49 years. The rest, 16.68%, are 50 years or older.
By gender, there is a slight prevalence of women, who account for 51.03% of donations compared to 48.97% represented by men.
In light of this data, the president of the ICHH, Gemma Torres Aguiar, has described as "good news that half of those who donate blood for the first time are young people, because it means that the promotion work in educational centers and among Canarian youth is bearing fruit."
"This group is the present and the future of blood donation in the Canary Islands and will guarantee the reserves of blood components in the medium and long term in our autonomous community," said Torres Aguiar.
The president also wanted to "encourage all these people who have donated blood for the first time to turn this altruistic gesture into a habit that they can repeat up to three times a year, in the case of women, and up to four times for men, with a minimum interval of 60 days between donations."
The ICHH reminds that, due to age or health, at some point people who are regular blood donors will have to stop donating, so for the Canarian Transfusion Center it is essential to rejuvenate the blood donor database, in order to guarantee continuity in donations so as not to jeopardize hospital activity.
Requirements to donate blood
The basic requirements to donate blood are to be between 18 and 65 years old (up to 60 if it is your first donation), weigh more than 50 kilos, be in good general health and not be pregnant.
However, since there are multiple variables that can determine the suitability of the donor, the ICHH makes available to citizens on its website efectodonacion.com a self-assessment questionnaire to check if you can donate blood.
Donation protocol
You can go directly to the donation point or make an appointment by calling 012 or 928 301 012 / 922 470 012 (option 8), from Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 20:00 hours or by completing the appointment form published on the website efectodonacion.com.
Before going to donate, it is advisable to review the information published on this same website in the Covid-19 Protocol tab and answer the self-assessment test to check if you can donate blood.
All information about blood donation points in the Canary Islands can be found on the website efectodonacion.com.
