The Red Journey has become the country’s largest and most effective blood donation campaign, leaving a strong impression on the national voluntary blood donation movement.

First launched in 2008 to address post-Tet blood shortages, the festival expanded nationwide in 2010 under the direction of the National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation Campaign. Over 17 editions, the festival has attracted hundreds of thousands of donors across the nation, with the Hanoi event – hosted by the institute – collecting nearly 120,000 blood units.

As many as 6,077 blood units were donated in the northern province of Ha Nam during the Red Spring Festival from December 8, 2023 to March 17 this year.

Nearly 9,000 units of blood were collected nationwide during the Xuan Hong (Red Spring) festival from February 18-25, the biggest annual blood donation campaign, reported the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT).

Ho Chi Minh City has taken the lead in the voluntary blood donation movement for many years, accounting for one-fifth of the donated blood nationwide, President of the city’s Red Cross Society Tran Truong Son said on April 7.

A blood donation festival was held in Thanh Tri district, Hanoi, on April 3 in celebration of the All People’s Voluntary Blood Donation Day (April 7).

A ceremony was held in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang’s Nga Bay city on January 12 to kick off blood donation campaigns on the occasion of Lunar New Year and for 2022.

Close to 425,000 blood units have been collected across the country since the start of 2021, according to the Vietnam Red Cross Society.

The 14th Red Spring Festival, the largest blood donation drive in the country, collected more than 8,300 blood units during one week from March 1, announced the organising board on March 7.

With Tet (Lunar New Year) approaching together with the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, blood donations to the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) have decreased.

The Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation, said it had received approximately 1.7 million units of blood in 2020, which helped millions of patients, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A blood donation drive kicked off in the northern province of Thai Nguyen on July 24, with the aim of collecting at least 1,150 units of blood.

More than 570 blood units were collected during the "Red Journey" programme held in the northern province of Bac Giang on July 19.

The Vietnam Fatherland Front Ho Chi Minh City chapter organised a ceremony in the city on April 25 to launch the voluntary blood donation day, in response to an appeal by Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong.

The Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee held an online event in Hanoi on April 13 to call on the people to join the blood donation drive in response to a letter of Party Central Committee General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong.

The National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) is appealing to people with blood types O and A to make donations, as its blood reserves are now only sufficient to cover one week.

The Ho Chi Minh City Computer Association (HCA) and the municipal Red Cross Society on February 27 held a workshop calling for blood donation amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

Hundreds of young people in Ho Chi Minh City are calling on their friends via social media and others to visit the Blood Transfusion Haematology Hospital and Humanitarian Blood Donation Centre to donate blood to address a shortage amid the ongoing public health emergency caused by the coronavirus.

The Central Highlands province of Dak Lak has set itself a target to collect more than 21,400 blood units in 2020.

The Red Journey voluntary blood donation campaign was held in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on July 14, attract a large number of youth union members, young people, members of armed forces and teachers.