World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) first initiated the celebration of blood donors in 2004 on the 14th of June. The whole world since then honors people who give and donate blood frequently as they save numerous lives and offer hope to those in need.
In the past centuries natural disasters (such as earthquakes, floods, heavy storms) and man-made catastrophes (accidents, wars, armed conflicts) caused the death of more than one million people and put in danger another 250 million. This year WHO chose the emergency blood donation as their main theme.
The slogan of 2017 is: What can you do? Give blood. Give now. Give often.