Concerns over the future of donated blood supplies due to dramatic drop in donations from 16 to 25-year-olds. Video / Herald NOW
Blood and plasma donations have fallen 25% among young people since Covid-19, raising concerns about whether future demand can be met.
The New Zealand Blood Service said it lost the ability to recruit youngsters for donations during the pandemic years because it was unable to get into schools and universities.
And more restrictive rules since Covid mean the service has lost visibility with Generation Z. As a result, the number of 16- to 25-year-olds donating at least once every two years has fallen steeply.
“A lot of people started their donation journey at school,” New Zealand Blood Service CEO Sam Cliffe said.
“Students would say, ‘Yes, please. I’ll get out of class for an hour’. But actually, it got them into a habit of donating.”
The average age of donors in New Zealand is 43 years old. While that is relatively low by international standards, a large proportion of them are older than 60.
The loss of a whole cohort of youth donors could have an impact on the service’s ability to meet demand, which is driven by a growing, ageing population.
“We have never failed to supply a product on time [and] I want to be able to say, hand on heart, that we’ll continue to do that,” Cliffe said.
“But we are also facing increased demand for our fresh products, which are essentially red blood cells, and the big increase is in demand for plasma-derived products. That’s where we really struggle ... because the demand from clinicians of patients across the country is rising by 10% every year.”
Sam Cliffe, chief executive of the New Zealand Blood Service, is issuing a public plea for more young donors. Photo / Martin Johnston
With National Blood Donor Week beginning today, the service is launching a campaign urging Gen Z to “find their superpower” and become a donor.
Bill Coman, 26, is one of those who depend on regular plasma infusions.
Three years ago, he started noticing numbness in his toes while he was working in a summer job in construction.
He blamed it on working long hours and assumed it would come right. Then he started to lag behind his teammates at rugby training and felt shattered after each game.
After a series of specialist appointments, he was eventually diagnosed with a rare nerve condition in which his immune system breaks down the lining around his nerves, leading to a loss of sensation and numbness.
At his lowest point, he was barely able to walk 50m without crutches and his weight plummeted from 110kg to 75kg.
Coman gets plasma infusions every three weeks at Auckland Hospital, a process which takes six hours. Along with a steroid treatment, it has given him another chance at an active life.
He has started playing disability golf and rugby league and has secured a sports administration job at the University of Auckland.
“If I didn’t have this treatment, I wouldn’t be able to get to the point where I’m doing this sort of stuff,” Coman said. “I just don’t think it probably would have been possible.”
His family are now regular donors and he is encouraging others to sign up.
“The difference that it can make for certain people, not just for saving people’s lives by donating blood, but just improving their quality of life overall, is massive.”
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