"You see this thing called blood ..."

It may well be shrouded in the mists of history, the name of the club which organized the first blood drive within Rotary International. Since the 1990's, however, major blood drives have developed as a challenge between neighbouring clubs, especially in the US, Southern Africa and France. Still more clubs may be joining, individually or at district level or mini-district level, according to the Global Network for Blood donation, a Rotarian Action Group (GNBD). In some countries, Rotarians have founded local blood banks.

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"We have now been present with a blood donor exhibition booth at three Rotary International conventions, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and Birmingham, UK, and with the enquiries and general curiosity, which we have encountered, there is no doubt in my mind that more and more Rotarians are becoming interested in blood drives in cooperation with a local hospital, a blood bank or an official blood service organization," says member of Rotary E-Club London Centenary Haagen P. Cumlet, President and co-founder of GNBD. In Los Angeles and Birmingham, GNBD also hosted symposia on non-remunerated blood donations.

In the wake of the Birmingham convention, the GNBD President "hopes to see blood drive efforts develop in the Yorkshire District 1040, the London District 1130, perhaps in Scotland, in Poland (which shares District 2230 with Ukraine and Belarus), and also in the Nigerian District 9110, in District 2450 in Egypt and the Chennai District 3220, India". In Birmingham, a high- ranking official of the National Blood Service, NBS, expressed the hope to the GNBD staff that Rotary clubs in this English Midland city (District 1060) would help recruiting new voluntary blood donors.

In 2006, an American university study indicated that Rotarian blood donor projects around the world bring in about one per cent of the world's annual blood supply. This Rotarian effort is equivalent to the amount of donor blood needed to improve or save the life of potentially more than two million patients. According to the survey, as much as 60 percent of all Rotary districts may have clubs involved in blood donation, providing about 817,000 units of blood (out of the 81 million units of the world supply).

Some other important statistics: Without blood transfusion, 4.5 million patients would die in the US each year; the National Blood Service of England and Wales has said that in 2004 blood donors saved or improved approximately one million lives.

PDG Charles "Chuck" Kurtzman, Assistant General Coordinator 2008-10 of the Health and Hunger Re-source Group under Rotary International, says that "Through our local efforts at the club level, Ro-tary has become one of the world's largest forces in voluntary blood donation. Our efforts help save lives on the same scale as our polio eradication efforts."

Chuck Kurtzman is the co-founder of GNBD and was the first president of this Rotarian Action Group. In 1996, he started a club blood drive that developed into the Governor's Challenge Blood Drive in Texas District 5790. When the challenge spread first to the South African Johannesburg District 9300 and later to neighbouring Texas District 5810, the apostrophe in the word Governor's moved one character to the right and be-ame The Governors' Challenge, now encompassing five US Rotary districts and the South African Johannesburg district (which hopes to expand into other districts in that part of the continent). In 1998, French Rotarian and later DG Jean-Claude Brocart of the Toulouse District 1700 started the blood drive Mon Sang pour lesAutres/My blood for others, that has developed into a national Rotary event in France.

GNBD President Haagen Cumlet stresses that "a club blood drive - of course, in cooperation with an official blood service, blood bank or hospital - is about the least costly club project, measured in operation costs, one can organize, and just think of the effect; you actually help save human lives in your own local community."

"In a growing number of countries, volunteers' associations play a crucial role in developing the necessary donor base for a sufficient and stable blood supply. In the majority of countries, however, filling the blood banks day after day with safe blood is an enormous struggle," says President Niels Mikkelsen of the International Federation of Blood Donor Organiza-tions (FIODS).

Recruiting new blood donors is needed in every corner of the world, and it is here Rotary can help. The FIODS President points to surveys showing that "personal networks are essential" in recruiting new blood donors. Two out of three donors are recruited by direct personal contact from family members, friends, and colleagues or by volunteers.

"Among these volunteers, I am happy to see a rising number of Rotarians - and Global Network for Blood Donation, a Rotarian Action Group is a much needed new framework - not least in the English speaking countries of the world, where volunteer involvement in recruiting and retaining blood do-nors is still lacking," Niels Mikkelsen told the GNBD symposium on non-remunerated blood donation in Birmingham.

The FIODS President encourages Rotarians to help with the organization of local blood donor associations in countries where such associations do not exist - and in a joint effort with local hospitals.

"Medical doctors are experts in their field, but they often have little experience in marketing, public advocacy, media strategy, fundraising, or law. So the expertise of volunteers from all walks of life can be most helpful to the blood services .. Rotarians are often-well known in their local communities, and they can play an essential role as initiators and coordinators of the local networks, which can bring in the necessary large number of donors to the local blood centre", the President of the International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations argues.

FIODS is one of four major international health organizations in charge of the annual World Blood Donor Day (WBDD), June 14, an event, which is partnered by Global Network for Blood donation, a Rotarian Action Group.

On the issue of WBDD, according to David Plater, Senior Coordinator for Programs & Presidential Initiatives in Evanston, "Rotary International has supported these events through the Health and Hunger Resource Group, which has promoted World Blood Donor Day as one of the key health and hunger events Rotary clubs and districts should celebrate."

"Given the Health and Hunger Resource Group's success in promoting this event, we would encour-age GNBD to work with resource group members to build Rotarian support for World Blood Donor Day," the Evanston official emphasizes.

Whereas the Health and Hunger Resource Group is an official Rotary International organ, in the hands of the RI President, Global Network for Blood Donation is an autonomous organization - though bound to follow rules and regulations set forth by the RI Board of Directors for the Rotarian Action Groups.

Back in November 2004, according to David Plater, Rotary International's Board of Directors "did encourage organizations like FIODS to continue to work with Rotary clubs and districts to support blood donation and World Blood Donor Day in their local communities."

In a reference to the new RI President, John Kenny, the Evanston Senior Coordinator concludes in a mail to GNBD: "We appreciate GNBD's continued efforts to support Rotarian involvement in blood do-nation projects and wish you success in your efforts to promote World Blood Donor Day."

In early 2009, the International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations, FIODS, named a special liaison to Rotary with regard to blood donor projects in clubs and districts. The contact person is PDG Olafur Helgi Kjartansson from Rotary District 1360 inIceland, who serves on the FIODS Board of Directors as the organization's Treasurer General.

THE PURPOSE OF GNBD IS:

• to develop an international network of Rotarians and Rotaractors, their clubs and districts, families and friends, around the world, who are involved in blood donor projects;
• to inspire other clubs and districts to join this life-improving and life-saving endeavour; and
• to be a forum where all parties involved may share their experiences.

Global Network for Blood Donation was founded in late 2006 and was recognized by the Rotary International Board of Directors in February 2007 as a Rotarian Action Group. The membership has after the Birmingham convention passed 900.

In addition to blood donor drives within clubs and districts, other Rotary blood projects work abroad. That applies to a major project such as The Safe Blood Africa Project (SBA), which is installing blood bank equipment in hospitals in Nigeria, and Safe Blood, Inc, working in Latin America; both are American based. In a number of developing countries, Rotarians are supporting or have even founded local blood banks.

In India, there are said to be at least 50 such Rotary-related blood banks, one of which now has expanded into the stem cell era and has become the country's the first public not-for-profit cord blood bank. In Western Australian the three Rotary districts there are working on a cord blood bank project. Especially in the US, Rotarians have been known for helping redirect still operative blood bank equipments from local blood banks and hospitals to such facilities in the less fortunate part of the world.

In 2006, Rotary International was chosen by the AABB, a professional society for transfusion and cellular medicine, as the recipient of its Outstanding Organization Award for the role in the world's blood supply. (AABB was formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks).