INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
expertise in providing services to patients with rare blood types.The official also commended IBTO services in supplying healthy blood
voluntarily to Iranians as well as Afghan refugees, IRIB reported.WHO representative made the remarks on Wednesday while addressing a
ceremony held to mark the national rare blood day
The official went on to announce the WHO's readiness to cooperate with IBTO in providing services to patients with rare blood
diseases.According to Mehdi Karbasian, an official with IBTO, currently, some 358 units of rare blood are frozen and stored in the Iranian
can be stored for as long as 10 years.IBTO is WHO regional training authorityIn 2024, Bashir Haji-Beigi, the IBTO spokesman, said IBTO is
still known as a regional training authority of the World Health Organization in blood transfusion medicine.Haji-Beigi said conducting
nucleic acid testing (NAT), a molecular technique for screening blood donations to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections;
facilitate hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for patients are among the activities that have been put on the agenda since last
year.4.7% rise year on yearA total of 2,327,997 Iranians donated blood over the past Iranian calendar year (March 2023-March 2024), an
increase of 4.7 percent compared to the year earlier.Tehran and Fars provinces made the largest contributions accounting for more than 16
percent and more than 7 percent of the total blood donation, respectively, IRNA quoted Haji-Beigi as saying.Last year, the highest growth in
blood donation was recorded in the province of Lorestan with 22 percent, followed by North Khorasan with 16 percent, and Kohgiluyeh and
Boyer-Ahmad with approximately 13 percent.The overall blood donation rate was over 54 percent in the country last year with Semnan (69
A total of 102, 907 women donated blood which had increased compared to the previous year
However, women are expected to get more involved in blood donation.Women in Lorestan province, nine percent, had the highest contribution
followed by North Khorasan, almost eight percent, and Sistan-Baluchestan, over seven percent.Last year, the blood donation rate reached 27
The highest rate was recorded in Mazandaran province with over 40,000 people donating blood
