Students take donor action 'deadly serious'

Annual Blood Serious campaign from Belgian Red Cross-Flanders was a success

At the kickoff on Oct. 15 of the Bloedserieus autumn campaign, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders set no less than 6,000 donations as its target, and that ambitious goal was easily met. The day before yesterday, Dec. 16, the campaign concluded with a final collection at the Karel de Grote Hogeschool in Antwerp.

 
Bloody 2024: +13% donations than in 2023

The campaign visited 13 cities this fall, accounting for 28 collections. Belgian Red Cross-Flanders can always call on the local student organizations at universities and colleges for this. Over the whole year, with a spring and an autumn campaign, just 65 collections were organized. In total, more than 11,000 students came to donate during the 2024 Blood Serious Collections, a hefty 13% increase over 2023. Therefore, it is nothing exaggerated to say that Bloedserieus 2024 was a success. Such campaigns are important to maintain blood supplies, including negative blood types that are currently at low levels.

"With Blood Serious, we want to introduce students to donating blood in a familiar environment. We try to convince them of its importance, in the hope that they will then find their way to our donor centers for both blood and plasma donations," said Abdelkebir El Makhloufi, project manager for the campaign at Belgian Red Cross-Flanders .

Plasma is just as important

Plasma cannot be donated during mobile blood collections because of the equipment required for this purpose. Plasma, however, is as essential as blood. It is vital for people who have severe clotting disorders due to massive blood loss or blood diseases, and for the production of many medications. The demand for plasma has been rising for years. Therefore, about 5 percent extra plasma needs to be collected in Flanders every year. Plasma donation is not yet as well known to the Flemish people as blood donation, even though it is at least as important, according to Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, which is looking for additional plasma donors. Students can do their part by donating plasma in one of the 14 donor centers of Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, often in their student city.

 
More info on plasma can be found here.

Karel de Grote Hogeschool Antwerp closes Bloedserieus 2024