13 June 2014 -- The focus of this year's World Blood Donor Day campaign is "Safe blood for saving mothers". Every day, about 800 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications. Severe bleeding during delivery and after childbirth is a major cause of mortality, morbidity and long-term disability. The goal of the campaign is to increase awareness about why timely access to safe blood and blood products is essential for all countries as part of a comprehensive approach to prevent maternal deaths.

• Feature story: Full moon lures blood donors in Sri Lanka
• Campaign essentials: World Blood Donor Day
• World Blood Donor Day 2014 Report
  pdf, 2.99Mb

19 May 2014 -- The focus for this year's campaign is "Safe blood for saving mothers". The campaign will increase awareness about why timely access to safe blood and blood products is essential for all countries as part of a comprehensive approach to prevent maternal deaths. WHO encourages all countries, national and international partners working on blood transfusion and maternal health to develop an activity plan to highlight the need for timely access to safe blood and blood products in the prevention of maternal deaths.

• Read the campaign essentials
• Download the visual materials