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Switzerland under blood crises

Wednesday, 14 June 2023 06:30

Today is World Blood Donor Day and it comes with a warning that Switzerland is bleeding out.

The Swiss Red Cross says it’s becoming harder to motivate people to give blood. Their spokesman, Adrian Fluri, says blood is especially scarce during the summer. 

He says more needs to be done to persuade the young to give blood. He points out it only takes 45 minutes. 

There are two major problems – blood is hard to keep fresh and the aging population.

The boomer population – those born after the Second World War – are aging and cancer is more common in older people. Many treatments will require blood product transfusions.

The Swiss Red Cross says we need new blood donors and point out only 2.5% of the population do so regularly. 

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