Japan Looks to School Students for Future Blood Donors
Japan's low birth rate continues to worry the government, and not just for economic reasons.
With fewer children being born, the number of young blood donors may continue to decrease — something that could have a negative impact on the health of the country.
That's why the government is planning to target middle school pupils from 2025, as part of a program encouraging them to become blood donors.
They won't be asked to donate, but they will be introduced to the idea, so they're ready when they're old enough to give blood at age 16.
The health ministry has been encouraging high school students to donate for a number of years, but this will be the first time that middle school students have been targeted for education on the topic.
The health ministry's Takaaki Harigai said the ministry wants to "actively involve" middle school and high school students in "blood donation volunteer activities."
Harigai said most donors are aged between 40 and 50, and they can only give blood until the age of 69.
According to government data, there were about 5 million blood donors in 2022. About 70% of these people were aged between 40 and 69. And the number of blood donors aged between 16 and 39 decreased from around 2.5 million in 2012 to 1.67 million in 2022.
There are a number of checks that have to take place before people can give blood.
Possible donors are checked for infections, and they are also asked about their travel history. Depending on where they traveled and when, people may not be able to donate because of infections that were present in those places at the time.
