The ABO blood group system, which Karl Landsteiner discovered and won a Nobel Prize for, is celebrated on the occasion of that event.
o The World Health Assembly (WHO) decided in 2005 that it would happen every year.
• The goal is to thank people who donate blood and to get more people to do it.
• The slogan for the 2023 World Blood Donor Day campaign is “Give blood, give plasma, share life, share often.”
• In 2023, Algeria will be the host country.
• Blood is a body fluid made up of four main parts: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma.
Plasma is the liquid part of the blood. It is made of salts, sugar, protein, water, and fat.
The plasma’s main job is to move nutrients, waste, antibodies, clotting proteins, chemical signals like hormones, and proteins that help keep the body’s fluid balance all over the body.
o Blood cells:
These are the cells that make up most of the blood.
Haemoglobin is a special protein that helps move oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. It also helps bring carbon dioxide from the rest of the body back to the lungs so it can be breathed out. Because of this, blood looks red.
Erythropoietin is a hormone that controls how many red blood cells are made. It is mostly made by the kidneys.
o The white blood cells:
About 1% of human blood is made up of white blood cells, which keep the body from getting sick.
Platelets:
Platelets are tiny, colourless pieces of cells that are found in our blood. When they gather at a wound, they help the blood clot (coagulate).
A healthy platelet count is between 150,000 and 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood.
Different blood groups
• The four main types of blood are A, B, AB, and O. The blood group is based on the antibodies and antigens that are in the blood.
• Antibodies are proteins that are found in plasma. They are part of the body’s natural defence system. They tell the immune system, which gets rid of germs and other alien substances, that they have found something. Antibodies are protein molecules that are on the outside of red blood cells.
The ABO System
• The ABO system tells the difference between the four main types of blood. • Blood group A has anti-B antibodies and A antigens.
• Blood Group B: It has proteins called B that attack antibodies called An.
• Blood group AB has both A and B antigens, but it doesn’t have any antibodies.
• Blood Group O has antibodies against both A and B, but no antigens.
The R.H. Way
• Sometimes, red platelets have another antigen called the RhD antigen. This is a protein. If this is there, RhD is present in the blood group. RhD-negative means that the blood group does not have RhD.
• The golden blood type, also called the Rh null blood group, has no Rh antigens (proteins) in its red blood cells (RBCs). This blood group is the rarest in the world because less than 50 people have it. Aboriginal people in Australia were the first to see it.
Blood Groups for Everyone
• Universal Donor: Blood type O-, because it doesn’t have any pathogens and has a negative Rh factor.
• Blood that can be used by anyone: AB+ blood has a positive Rh factor and both A and B antigens.
India has 3840 licenced blood banks (also called “blood centres”) where people can give blood. up until March 2022. The first voluntary blood donor programme in India started during World War II, and the first blood bank was set up in Kolkata, West Bengal.
• Steps: In India
National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is on October 1.
o The National Blood Plan (NBP) of 2002 tries to make sure there is enough safe, high-quality blood and blood parts from regular, unpaid, and willing donors in facilities that are well-equipped. Transfusion-Transmissible Infections (TTIs) shouldn’t be in the blood, and it should be kept and moved in the best way possible.
o The National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) and State Blood Transfusion Councils (SBTCs) were set up so that IEC programmes could be planned for the whole country.
• In reaction to the HIV pandemic, blood safety became an important part of the National AIDS Control programme, with the following goals:
