WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) – The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says while voluntary blood donors have increased in Latin America and the Caribbean, they are still short of ensuring sufficient blood supplies.

In a statement released ahead of World Blood Donor Day on Wednesday, PAHO said less than half of blood donors are volunteers in the region.

The new report, “Supply of Blood for Transfusion in Latin American and Caribbean Countries, 2014 and 2015,” shows that while the percentage of voluntary blood donors grew from 38.5 to 44.1 per cent between 2013 and 2015 in the region, it is still far from reaching the 100 per cent level recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) “to ensure a sufficient and safe blood supply for transfusions”.

PAHO Director Dr Carissa F Etienne said while “everyone has the right to expect the blood they need to be available when needed, unfortunately, many still suffer unnecessarily or even die because they do not have access to a safe and timely blood transfusion.

“Universal access to safe and quality blood is essential if we are to provide comprehensive health care for all,” she added.

PAHO said the Caribbean has a higher percentage of voluntary donors (54.9 per cent) than Latin America (43.2 per cent), as well as a larger number of people donating blood.

Some 71 per cent of voluntary donations in the Caribbean in 2015 were obtained from people who donated blood or blood components at least twice that year, while in Latin America that figure was only 33.4 per cent.

“We need to change the culture of a single donation motivated by urgency to a culture based on repeated, altruistic donation,” said PAHO Regional Blood Services and Transplants Advisor, María Dolores Pérez-Rosales.

“Only then will the blood banks of the countries of the region be able to achieve self-sufficiency and ensure that access to blood for transfusions is universal.”

According to the report, which includes data from 36 countries in the region, only one country from Latin America and nine from the Caribbean got all their blood donations from voluntary unpaid donors.

These are Nicaragua, and Aruba, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique and Suriname.

The report also presents data on the profile of donors. Of the total donors in 2015 in both Latin America and the Caribbean, about 62 per cent were men and 38 percent women.