essential
Despite a slight better in 2024, blood donations stagnate in Balma, like everywhere.
A week ago, the second annual collection of the Balma blood donors association (ADSB) made it possible to harvest 110 blood pockets. The contribution of volunteer associations is essential to the regularity of the 10,000 daily donations required in France – 1,000 in Occitanie – to provide for the medical system. Indeed, thousands of people depend every day on vital transfusions: accidents, burnled, patients with cancer or chronic diseases, difficult deliveries …
A notable settlement
The regularity of these gifts therefore remains essential, since the lifespan of the blood derived does not exceed 42 days. This is why the EFS (French blood establishment) frequently draws the alarm signal in order to maintain national self -sufficiency. Jean-Marie Veys, president of the ADSB, notes the stagnation, even the decrease, of the volume of blood provided by the volunteers in Balma. “2024 experienced a slight recovery in the attendance of our collections compared to 2023, which was a truly hollow year,” he sighs. However, participation accuses a notable settlement. In the figures, Wednesday, February 5, 2025, 152 donors presented themselves in the Odyssey room (for 133 samples), while 190 donors had allowed 162 samples in February 2024. Same downward trend for the session of Wednesday, April 9, which gave rise to 110 pockets of blood collected, against 142 at the same time a year ago.
-EFS generosity index
“In fact, Wednesday is less conducive to the organization of collections. Perhaps because it is a day during which the parents keep their children,” adds Jean-Marie Veys, who announces that the next two collections will be scheduled for a Friday, “the day when the crowd is the strongest”. He observes: “Overall, we note that our collections are frequented at 60 % by women and 40 % by men”. But the problem remains global, and Balma is not the only one to undergo a decline in donations. Jean-Marie Veys observes: “EFS tells us that the generosity index stagnates”. This index, which measures the rate of people between 18 to 70 years old having made at least one blood donation in the year, varies in France from 3.5 % to 4 %.
The next ADSB collection is scheduled for Friday, June 13, at the Odyssey, Liberation in Balma on Friday 13 June. Make an appointment online:
mon-rdv-dondesang.efs.sante.fr
